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POUNDED  BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


A  STUDY  OF  OUINTUS  OF  SMYRNA 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED    TO    THE    FACULTY     OF    THE    GRADUATE    SCHOOL    OF    ARTS 

AND    LITERATURE,  IN    CANDIDACY    FOR    THE    DEGREE 

OF    DOCTOR    OF   PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT  OF  GREEK) 


BY 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  PASCHAL 


CHICAGO 
1904 


Gbe  TUntversttE  of  Cbfcago 

FOUNDED  BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


A  STUDY  OFQUINTUS  OF  SMYRNA 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED    TO    THE    FACULTY     OF    THE    GRADUATE    SCHOOL    OF    ARTS 

AND    LITERATURE,  IN    CANDIDACY    FOR    THE    DEGREE 

OF    DOCTOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT  OF  greek) 


BY 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  PASCHAL 


IVERSITY 

OF 


CHICAGO 

1904 


PRINTED  AT  THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS,   AUGUST,  iqoj 


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PREFATORY  NOTE. 

The  purpose  of  this  study  is  to  give  a  comprehensive  outline  of  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge  of  the  Posthomerica.  While  the  works 
of  former  scholars  have  been  freely  used,  an  effort  has  been  made  to 
contribute  something  toward  fixing  the  date  of  the  author,  and  an 
analysis  has  been  made  of  the  matter  and  style  of  his  poem  to  show 
his  relation  to  Homer.  In  a  chapter  on  sources  it  is  argued  that 
there  is  a  probability  that  Quintus  had  read  the  Cyclics,  Baumstarck's 
view  that  he  borrowed  largely  from  ^schylus  is  combated,  some  points 
are  added  to  the  proof  that  he  borrowed  from  Virgil,  and  attention  is 
called  to  the  parallelism  between  Quintus  and  Seneca. 

This  work  was  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Professor  Paul 
Shorey,  of  the  University  of  Chicago.  To  him  the  writer  is  indebted 
for  guidance  in  classical  study,  and  in  particular  for  helpful  criticism 
and  advice  in  the  prosecution  of  the  present  work.  Thanks  are  also 
due  Professor  Edward  Capps,  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  whose 
advice  has  been  frequently  sought,  and  who  has  given  the  work  the 
advantage  of  his  trained  eye  in  proof-reading. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Prefatory  Note 3 

I.  Bibliographical 7 

i.  Codices  -----------  7 

2.  Editions      ----------  7 

3.  Dissertations,  etc.     ---------  7 

4.  Notes  on  Manuscripts  and  Editions 8 

II.  Biographical n 

1 .  Name          ----------  11 

2.  Place 12 

3.  Date 13 

III.  The  Style  of  Quintus  as  Related  to  Homer        -         -        -  22 

1.  Metre 22 

2.  Vocabulary 22 

3.  Variations  in  Meaning  and  Use  of  Homeric  Words        -         -  27 

4.  Dialectical  Variations  from  Homer  ------  30 

5.  Phrases,  Tags,  Clausula?,  etc.        ------  32 

6.  Similes    ---------  -38 

7.  The  Gods,  Religious  and  Moral  Ideas            ...         -  40 

8.  Outline  of  Poem 45 

9.  General  Summary  of  Style  -------  63 

IV.  Sources 68 

1.  Introductory         ---------  68 

2.  The  Cyclics     ---- -68 

3.  The  Tragedians            --------  73 

4.  The  Alexandrines    ---------  76 

5.  The  Latin  Poets 78 

(1)  Virgil 78 

(2)  Ovid 80 

(3)  Seneca       -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -81 


V 


UNIVERSITY  j 

OF         . 


I.     BIBLIOGRAPHICAL. 

I.     CODICES.1 

I.  Codices  antiquiores  iidemque  optimi  ac  plenissimi. 

1.  M—  Monacensis  (Lib.  I-IV  10  et  XII). 

2.  P  =  Parrhasianus  (Koechlyi  Neapolitanus  alter). 

II.  Codices  ex  Hydruntino  amisso  ducti. 

1.  Codices  accuratius  descripti,  saltern  pleniores : 

a)  V  =  Venetus. 

b)  E1  —  Escurialensis. 

c)  V3=  Vaticanus  y. 

d)  C  —  Cantabrigiensis. 

2.  Codices  deteriores  non  correcti :  e  quo  genere  unum  Aldus  expressit, 
unde  fit  ut  hi  cum  Aldina  plane  congruant.  Qua  re  littera  A  consen- 
sus codicum  inferioris  notae  significatur ;  singulos  enumerare  longum 
est. 

3.  Codices  deteriores  a  librariis  correcti :  ex  horum  numero  est  Caesarens 
(C1)  a  Graeco  quodam  correctus  et  inepte  suppletus. 

II.     EDITIONS. 

Editio  princeps,  Aldus,  Venice,  1521,  i504-(?);  Freigius,  Basel,  156(5; 
Rhodomann,  Hannover,  1577  and  1604;  De  Pauvv,  Leyden,  1734;  Tychsen, 
Strassburg,  1807  (revised  by  Tauchnitz,  1829);  F.  S.  Lehrs,  Didot,  Paris, 
1840;  Koechly,  Leipzig,  1850;  Koechly,  editio  minor,  in  "  Bibliotheca  Teubne- 
riana,  1853  ;"  Zimmermann,  in  "Bibliotheca  Teubneriana,"  Leipzig,  1 891. 

III.     DISSERTATIONS,   DISCUSSIONS    IN    PERIODICALS,  ETC. 

For  the  bibliography  before  1878  the  reader  is  referred  to  "Biblio- 
theca Scriptorum  Classicorum,"  Scriptores  Graeci,  Engelmann  and 
Preuss,  Leipzig,  1880.  The  more  important  articles  that  have  appeared 
since  that  date  are  : 

Niemeyer,  "Ueber  die  Gleichnisse  bei  Quintus  Smyrnaeus,"  Programm 
des  Gymnasiums  zu  Zwickau,  1 883-1 884. 

Kehmptzow,  F„  De  Quinti  Smyrnaei  fontibus  ac  mythopoeia,  1891. 

Noack,  in  Gbttingische  gelehrte  Anzeigen,  1892,  pp.  769-818.  (Compre- 
hensive review  of  Kehmptzow's  dissertation,  and  a  discussion  of  the  sources.) 

Baumstarck,  "Die   zweite  Achilleustragodie  des  Aischylos,"  Philologus, 

1  From  Zimmermann's  edition,  p.  xxxi. 

/  <7 


'/ 


8  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

Vol.  LV,  pp.  281  f.    (Discusses  the  sources  of  the  second  and  third  books.) 

Noack,  "  Die  Quellen  des  Tryphiodoros,"  Hermes,  Vol.  XXVII,  pp.  452  f. 
(Discusses  imitation  of  Quintus.) 

Zimmermann,  Kritische  Utitersuchungen  zu  den  Posthomerica  des  Quintus 
Smymaeus,  Leipzig,  1889. 

Zimmermann,  Kritische  Nachlese  zu  den  Posthomerica  des  Quintus,  1900. 

Weinberger,  "De  Quinti  Smyrnaei  codice  Parrhasiano,"  Wiener  Studien, 
Vol.  XVII. 

Herwerden,  "Ad  Quintum  Smyrnaeum,"  Mnemosyne,  Vol.  XX  (1892), 
pp.  168  f. 

Piatt,  Arthur,  "Emendations  of  Quintus  Smyrnaeus,"  Journal  of  Phi- 
lology, Vol.  XXVII  (1901),  pp.  103  f. 

Glover,  Life  and  Letters  in  the  Fourth  Century,  pp.  77-101. 

IV.       NOTES    ON    MANUSCRIPTS,    EDITIONS,    ETC. 

The  manuscripts  are  described  at  length  in  Tychsen's  Commentatio, 
sec.  iv,  and  in  Koechly's  Prolegomena,  Lib.  III.  The  relationship  of 
P  to  M  and  of  both  to  the  H  family  is  set  forth  by  M.  Treu,  "Ueber 
den  Parrhasischen  Codex  des  Quintus,"  Hermes,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  365  ff. 
We  learn  from  the  life  of  Coluthus  written  in  Greek  and  prefixed  to 
the  Aldine  edition,  also  to  be  found  in  the  Teubner  edition,  that  the 
first  manuscript  of  Quintus  was  found  by  Bessarion  in  a  monastery 
near  Hydruntum  about  1460. *  The  manuscript  found  by  Bessarion 
was  at  once  widely  copied,  sometimes  faithfully,  sometimes  very  care- 
lessly. Several  of  these  copies  have  come  down  to  us.  Their  relative 
worth  is  shown  in  Zimmermann's  table.  Manuscript  M  was  collated 
by  G.  Hardt  for  Tychsen's  edition  and  by  Koechly  for  his  own.  In 
the  catalogue  of  the  Royal  Library  at  Munich  it  is  said  to  belong  to  the 
middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  P  was  given  its  name  for  a  former 
owner,  Janus  Parrhasius,  by  Treu  {loc.  cit.).  Treu  shows  that  P  and 
J/"  were  faithful  copies  of  a  common  original.  Neither  P  nor  M  was 
derived  from  H,  nor  was  H  derived  from  P,  but  all  three  go  back  to  a 
common  faulty  manuscript,  and  this  one  common  source  of  our  knowl- 
edge of  Quintus  probably  comes  from  the  year  131 1.  This  is  the  date 
affixed  by  the  scribe  to  P,  but  the  handwriting  is  that  of  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century:  Hence  it  is  reasonably  inferred  that  this  date 
was  found  on  the  manuscript  from  which  P  was  copied,  and  transcribed 
by  the  copyist.2 

1  In  a  prefatory  note  to  an  inferior  manuscript,  the  Matritensis,  Bessarion  is  said  to  have  made  his 
discovery  after  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  1452.     He  died  in  1472. 

2  See  Treu,  loc,  cit. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  9 

The  older  editions  are  fully  described  in  Tychsen's  Commentatio, 
sec.  iv.  The  editio  princeps  of  Aldus  was  full  of  errors,  and  scholars 
were  soon  busy  with  emendations.  Contributions  were  made  to  this 
work  by  Brodaeus  in  1552,  and  by  Canter  in  1 57 1,  and  in  the  same 
period  marginal  emendations  were  written,  in  one  edition  or  another, 
by  Sylburgius,  Falkenburgius,  and  Joseph  Scaliger.  The  first  really 
critical  edition  was  that  of  Rhodomann,  "the  preserver  of  Quintus," 
containing  only  Books  XII-XIV  (Leipzig,  1577).  Nearly  thirty  years 
later  the  same  editor  published  an  edition  of  the  whole  poem  (Hanno- 
ver, 1604).  This  edition  contained  a  preface  on  the  poem  of  Quintus, 
arguments  in  Greek  and  Latin  verses  to  the  books  of  Homer  and  of 
Quintus,  the  nomenclature  of  Quintus,  a  short  argument  of  one  hex- 
ameter for  each  book,  and  in  parallel  columns  the  Greek  text  and  a 
Latin  translation  by  the  editor.  At  the  end  were  indices,  emendations, 
etc.  The  next  important  edition  was  that  of  Tychsen.  In  the  mean- 
time emendations  had  been  made  by  Dausque,  1616;  De  Pauw  in  his 
edition,  1734;  Pierson,  1752;  Iriarte,  1769;  Tychsen,  1783;  Jacobs, 
1786;  Schow,  1790;  Godfried  Hermann,  1805.  After  a  quarter  of  a 
century  of  labor,  Tychsen  in  1807  brought  out  his  edition:  KOINTOY 
TA  ME®  OMHPON.  Quinti  Smyrnaei  Posthomericorum  libri  XIV. 
Nunc  primum  ad  librorum  manuscriptorum  fidem  et  virorum  doctor um 
conjecturas  recensuit,  restituit  et  supplevit  Thorn.  Christ.  Tychsen.  Acces- 
serunt  observationes  Chr.  Gottl.  Heynii.  Argentorati  ex  typographia  socic- 
tatis  Bipontinae  MDCCCVII.  In  a  Commentatio,  pp.  xvii-cviii,  a  study 
is  made  of  the  author  and  his  poem,  his  sources,  editions,  versions,  etc. 
This  edition  was  revised  by  Tauchnitz  in  1829.  In  the  first  half  of  the 
century  many  scholars  —  Spitzner,  C.  L.  Struve,  Bonitz,  Koechly  — 
engaged  in  the  work  of  emendation.  The  results  of  their  labors  were 
utilized  by  Lehrs  in  the  Firmin  Didot  edition,  1840.  Next  followed 
the  edition  of  Koechly:  Quinti  Smyrnaei  Posthomericorum  libri  XIV. 
Recensuit prolegomenis  et  adnotatione  critica  instruxit  Arminius  Koechly. 
Lipsiae  apud  Weidmatmos  MDCCCL.  Later  an  editio  minor  by  the 
same  editor  was  published  in  "  Bibliotheca  Teubneriana."  Emenda- 
tions continued  to  be  made  by  Wagner,  Winkler,  and  others.  Finally 
Zimmermann  embodied  the  results  of  previous  studies  in  an  edition 
published  in  "  Bibliotheca  Teubneriana  "  in  1891.  The  text  has  been 
much  improved,  and  the  more  important  variations  of  the  manuscripts 
and  emendations  of  scholars  are  added  at  the  foot  of  the  page.  But 
the  work  of  text  revision  was  not  complete.  Noteworthy  contributions 
to  it  have  since  been  made  by  H.  van   Herwerden,    "Ad    Quintum 


10  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

Smyrnaeum,"  Mnemosyne,  Vol.  XX  (1892),  pp.  168  ff,  A  new  colla- 
tion of  the  Codex  Parrhasianus  has  been  made  by  W.  Weinberger, 
and  his  results  have  been  published  in  the  Wiener  Studien,  Vol.  XVII 
(1895),  pp.  161  ff.  In  1899  Zimrnermann  found  it  necessary  to  publish 
a  Kritische  Nachlese  to  his  edition.  Partly  from  hints  derived  from  the 
studies  just  mentioned,  and  in  greater  part  as  a  result  of  renewed 
examination  of  the  poem,  Zimrnermann  emends  about  two  hundred 
places.  But  the  general  result  of  all  these  studies  has  been  to  show  the 
solid  basis  of  Zimmermann's  edition.  Another  result  has  been  the 
removal  of  many  supposed  and  real  lacunae  from  the  text.1  The  most 
recent  emendations  are  by  Piatt,  in  Journal  of  Philology,  Vol.  XXVII 
(1901). 

1  Koechly,  De  lacu nis  in  Quinto  Smyrnaeo  qnaestio  (dissertation,  1843),  discovers  very  many 
lacunae  in  Quintus.  He  thinks  that  Quintus  is  always  explicit,  and  that,  although  gaps  in  the  Aldine 
editiou  have  been  supplied  from  the  manuscripts,  no  line  of  it  has  been  rejected.  In  M  also  he  finds 
lacunae,  and  in  some  cases  what  he  considers  probable  reasons  for  them.  When  Quintus  is  not  explicit 
there  is  reason  to  suspect  a  lacuna. 


II.     BIOGRAPHICAL. 

I.     NAME. 

The  various  and  sometimes  extravagant  conjectures  of  former 
scholars  as  to  the  name  of  Quintus  are  mentioned  and  refuted  by 
Tychsen,  Commentatio,  sec.  i.  By  abundant  quotations  from  Eusta- 
thius  and  other  Byzantine  scholiasts  and  grammarians,  he  establishes 
the  name  of  the  poet  as  Quintus,  and  the  title  of  his  poem  as  to,  ped' 
"Ofxrjpov.  None  of  these  references  go  back  of  the  twelfth  century, 
but  in  both  respects,  name  and  title,  they  are  confirmed  by  the  sub- 
scription to  the  last  book  of  the  Codex  Parrhasianus :  tc'Xos  KoiVrou 
twv  /*€#'  "Ofxrjpov  Aoywv  (Zimmermann),  "by  the  hand  of  the  scribe" 
(Treu).  We  learn  from  Eustathius  on  A,  p.  5,  ed.  Rom.,  that  Quintus 
called  the  books  of  his  poem  Xdyoi  (Tychsen). 

Just  how  our  author  got  the  prsenomen  of  Quintus  must  remain  a 
matter  of  conjecture.  He  might,  says  Tychsen,  have  been  a  freed- 
man,  or  have  been  presented  with  Roman  citizenship,  or  have  been  a 
descendant  of  some  Roman  settler  in  those  regions  (Asia  Minor). 
The  latter  is  probably  the  correct  view,  and  does  not  preclude  the  pos- 
sibility of  Ouintus's  having  had  a  large  strain  of  Greek  blood  in  his 
veins.  Already  in  88  B.  C.  Roman  citizens  were  so  numerous  in  Asia 
Minor  that  many  thousand  could  be  found  for  one  day's  slaughter.1 
Soon  security  was  brought  by  Pompey's  conquest.  Add  to  this  the 
fact  that  in  the  time  of  the  empire  Asia  Minor  offered  a  retreat  for 
Roman  families  of  means  and  culture,  and  it  becomes  evident  that  the 
number  of  Romans  settled  there  was  very  great.2  It  is  most  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  Quintus  was  descended  from  one  of  these.  Greek 
must  have  been  his  native  tongue,  but  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  a  Greek 
who  had  written  the  Posthomerica  would  choose  to  hide  his  race  behind 
a  Latin  name.  So  he  was  probably  of  Roman  descent.  At  least  he 
had  sympathies  thoroughly  Roman ;  his  religion  is  of  a  strongly  Stoical 
type;3  he  portrays  Ares  no  longer  as  a  butcher,  but  as  a  very  respect- 
able and  powerful  god  (1.  675  ff.,  etc.);  he  speaks  in  terms  of  glorifica- 
tion of  ^Eneas  and  the  ^Eneadae,  the  Roman  emperors,  and  the  city  by 

»  Cicero,  De  Lege  Manliana,  n. 

2  The  inscriptions  reveal  the  cordial  relations  between  the  emperors  and  the  cities  of  this  region. 
See  Dittenberger,  Sylloge?,  Vol.  I,  Nos.  387,  389,  406,  414. 

3  See  below,  section  on  Quintus's  religious  and  moral  ideas. 

II 


12  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

the  Tiber  (13.  334  ff.);  he  loses  no  opportunity  to  insist  on  the  rever- 
ence due  to  rulers  {e.g.,  1.  751  ff.).  Besides,  as  is  now  generally 
admitted,  he  borrows  from  the  Latin  poets,  especially  Virgil.  It  is 
probable,  then,  that,  though  born  of  Greek-speaking  parents,  he  was 
by  race  a  Roman. 

To  Quintus  it  is  now  customary  to  add  the  name  Smyrnoeus.1 
This  was  sometimes  used  by  the  Byzantine  grammarians — e.g.,  Tzetzes, 
Chil.,  II,  vs.  489  —  and  has  been  written  by  the  librarians  on  some  of 
the  manuscripts  (Tychsen).  It  is  only  a  distinguishing  title  of  the 
grammarians,  and  rests  on  the  authority  of  a  passage,  12.  306  ff. — the 
only  place  where  the  author  speaks  of  himself  —  in  which  he  says  that 
in  his  youth  he  kept  sheep  on  the  plains  of  Smyrna.  The  passage  is 
as  follows  : 

TOik  poi  vvv  /oaf?'  '£k<x<ttov  aveipop.£v(p  cracpa  Movffai 
*<rired\  6croi  Kari^-qcrav  ecrw  irohvxavSios  iinrov 
vixeis  yap  irdadv  p.01  £vl  cppecl  O^k/xt'  aoidtfv, 
ivpLv  y£  ixol  ap.<pl  irapua  Ka.Ta<Tid5va.<rda.i  tovKov 
"Zip.vpvris  iv  dcnrtSoun  irepu<\vTa  p.7j\a  v£p.ovri 
Tpls  rbaov   JZpfiov  dirwdev,  ocrov  fHodwvTos  aKOvaai, 
'Apri/uSos  wepl  vrjdv,  'EXevdeptqy  ivl  K-r)TT(p 
otipe'C  t'  oijre  \trjv  x0ayua\<J5  ovd'  inpodt.  woWip. 

II.     PLACE. 

The  lines  just  quoted  are  the  best  evidence  as  to  the  birthplace  of 
Quintus.     They  contain,  it  is  true,  an  imitation  of  Hesiod,  Theog.,  20  f.: 

at  vv  7TO0'  'Halodov  KaKrjv  iolSa^av  doiSrjv, 
dpvas  iroip.alvovd''  'EXikwvos  wo  faOeoio, 

but  Tychsen  and  Koechly  rightly  take  the  words  in  their  literal  sense.2 
The  descriptions  of  the  places  could  come  only  from  one  familiar  with 
them.  To  this  passage  we  may  add  many  more  to  show  his  accurate 
knowledge  of  Asia  Minor.  Such  are  his  most  vivid  description  of 
Mount  Sipylus  with  Niobe  changed  to  stone  (1.  293  ff .) ;  the  short 
description  of  the  Meander  (1.  285  ff.),  with  the  account  of  the  Har- 
pasus  flowing  into  it  (10.  143  ff.);   his  praise  of  the  Parthenius  river 

1  The  name  "  Calaber,"  by  which  Quintus  was  formerly  known,  and  is  still  known  in  popular  Eng- 
lish literature,  arose  from  the  fact  that  Hydruntum  (Otranto),  the  place  of  the  discovery  of  a  manu- 
script, is  in  what  was  formerly  Calabria  (Tychsen). 

2  There  has  been  much  dispute  as  to  whether  Quintus  was  really  a  shepherd.  Rhodomann  thought 
that  "pasture  and  sheep"  referred  to  "school  and  scholars."  Tychsen  and  Koechly  believed  Quintus 
ashepherdinhisboyhood.  Christ,  Geschichte der griechischen  Litteratur(c&.  3), p.  785, says:  "  Die 
Gleichnisse  ....  lassen  den  ehemaligen  Hirten  erkennen."  Kkhmptzow,  De  fontibus,  p.  8,  says  that 
they  are  mistaken,  and  that  we  have  here  only  an  imitation  of  Hesiod.     Niemeyer  believes  as  Tychsen. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  1 3 

which  flows  through  the  land  ^iV  eXaiov  (6.  466) ;  his  descriptions  of 
Lectum,  the  highest  peak  of  Ida  (14.  415);  of  the  cave  of  the  nymphs 
near  Heraclea  in  Paphlagonia  (6.  469  ff.);  of  the  cave  of  Endymion  on 
Mount  Latmos  (10.  126  ff.),  and  of  the  stone  mound  of  Scylaceus  in 
Lycia  (10.  147  ff.).1  These  are  only  a  few  of  a  great  number  of  similar 
passages.  Further,  Quintus  knows  in  detail  the  topography  of  the 
Troad.3  He  describes  very  minutely  the  successive  points  appearing 
to  a  ship  putting  into  the  coast  of  Troy  (7.  401  ff.). 

On  the  other  hand,  places  in  Greece  proper  are  mentioned  rather 
than  described.  Only  stock  literary  epithets  are  applied  to  them  ; 
e.  g.,  Tro\v8iipiov"Apyo<;  (3.  570). 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  he  lived  in  Asia  Minor,  most  probably  at 
Smyrna,  which  at  the  end  of  the  second  century  A.  D.  was  the  center 
of  great  educational  and  literary  activity.  It  was  the  largest  and 
richest  town3  in  that  region;  its  roads  were  of  the  best;4  it  contained 
an  excellent  library,  a  Homereion,5  and,  if  we  may  believe  Aristeides, 
was  a  great  patron  of  the  Muses;6  and,  to  judge  from  the  great  num- 
ber of  quotations  in  the  speeches  of  Aristeides,  Homeric  study  must 
have  been  diligently  pursued  in  this  city. 

III.       DATE. 

The  date  at  which  Quintus  lived  has  not  been  mentioned  by  the 
grammarians  and  scholiasts  who  refer  to  him.  Modern  scholars,  relying 
on  the  evidence  of  the  poem  itself,  have  reached  widely  differing  con- 
clusions. Some  have  held  that  the  poem  consists  to  a  great  extent  of 
lays  produced  in  the  Homeric  age.7  Some  English  writers  still  place 
him  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  A.  D.  Tychsen,  followed  by 
Koechly,  Kehmptzow,  and  Christ,  fixes  on  the  time  of  the  emperor 
Julian. 

1  The  examples  are  quoted  from  Koechly. 

2  "  Lechevalier,  auteur  du  Voyage  en  Troa.de  (1829),  a  fort  Ioue  et  celebre  Quintus,  dont  il  avait 
verifie  l'exactitude  topographique."  —  Sainte-Beuve,  Etude  sur  Quintus. 

3  See  Aristeides,  Encomium,  and  Philostratus,  passim. 

4  See  Ramsay,  Historical  Geography  of  Asia  Minor,  chap.  v. 

5  STRABO,  XIV,  956 :  eo-ri  8e  Kal  jSi/3Aio(?7)kt)  Kai  to  'Oju.jjpeioi'  aroa  TfTpa-yaji-os  e\ov(ra  vtu>v 
Op-r/pov  /cal  £6avov. 

6  ARISTEIDES,  XV,  406:  SujutjoYcu  St  avTrjv  ou7T0Te  Aei7rouo"ii',  ov&'  bcrat  Moucrat  7rdA£is  avBpiontov 
iiripXovTa.1.  ou5ep.t'a  e£oiKei,  7roAArj  p.iv  yap  i]  ey^uipios,  7roAAr)  6*e  i)  «7r7)Aus  •  <|><u'7]S  ai>  iariav  ea'at  rijs 
ijTreipou  TraiSeia;  eVcica. 

7 The  more  recent  of  these  are  F.  A.  Paley,  who  in  Quintus  Smyrnaeus  (London,  1879),  p.  3, 
says:  "  It  seems  then  in  every  way  probable  that  this  Quintus  collected  or  compiled  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  those  ancient  poems  which  had  been  included  in  the  Epic  Cyclus;"  and  E.  A.  Berthault, 
Quintus  de  Smyrne,  traduction  nottvelle  (Paris,  1884),  Introduction. 


14  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

Tychsen's  method  of  reaching  this  date  is  as  follows :  Since  there 
are  no  early  literary  references,  we  must  arrive  at  our  conclusion  from 
the  poem  itself.  This  shows  that  it  was  not  written  while  the  Greek 
tongue  was  pure.  However,  Rhodomann  is  wrong  in  assigning  Quintus 
to  the  age  of  Coluthus  —  end  of  fifth  century.  In  language  and  style 
he  is  nearer  the  Homeric  standard  and  more  in  agreement  with 
Nonnus  —  beginning  of  fifth  century.  Yet  Quintus's  style  helps  us 
only  approximately.  That  he  lived  while  the  world  was  yet  under 
Roman  sway  is  proved  by  some  lines  (13.  336  ff.)  where  Calchas 
advises  the  Greeks  to  let  ^Eneas  depart  unmolested  from  Troy  : 

rbv  yap  04<r<f>ar6v  i<rri  OeCbv  ipacvdii  (3ov\ri 
Qtinflpiv  eir'1  evpvpiedpov  dirb  advOoio  p.o\6vra 
Tev^ipnv  lepbv  &arv  kclI  iffffofxtvoicriv  dyyjrbv 
avOpdnroLS,  avrbv  5£  Tro\v<nrepie<T<ri  (3poTO?ai 
KoipavieLV  ■   £k  tov  dk  yivos  p^erbincrdev  dvd^eiv 
S.XPls  ^7r'  dvTo\lriv  re  Kal  aKa/xdrov  dfoiv  rjovs. 

In  this  and  other  places  where  /Eneas  is  mentioned  Quintus  seems  to 
wish  to  please  the  Romans.  One  should  beware  of  inferring  that  he 
lived  before  the  founding  of  Constantinople,  since  mention  of  that  city 
would  not  be  in  place  here,  and  Rome  continued  to  be  regarded  as  the 
capital  city.  In  another  place  (6.  531  ff.)  he  compares  the  Atreidae 
pressed  by  the  Trojans  to  wild  beasts  in  the  circus  : 

or''  8.i>a.KTes  doWttrvovv'1  dvOpdiwovs 
dpyaKius  r'  eiXuxri,  Kaicbv  revxovres  8\e0pop 
dypcriv  vrrb  Kparepois  •  ot  5'  fyiceos  ivrbs  ibvres 
Syitwas  dapddwTovcrtv,  8  rts  (r<pl<riv  ^771)5  txTfTai. 

Awiktcs  is  a  term  used  by  the  Greeks  to  designate  the  Roman  emperors.1 
Whether  the  Eastern  or  Western  are  referred  to  here  is  doubtful,  but 
as  gladiatorial  games  were  suppressed  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century, 
Quintus  probably  lived  about  the  middle  of  that  century,  and  was  one 
of  the  number  of  Greek  poets  who  flourished  after  the  revival  of  Greek 
letters  in  the  latter  half  of  the  second  century  A.  D. 

Koechly2  indorses  Tychsen's  views,  with  slight  modifications.  The 
reign  of  Julian,  he  believes,  while  well  fitted  for  the  conception  of 
Quintus's  poem,  was  too  short  for  its  completion,  which  was  probably 
delayed  till  the  time  of  Jovian  and  Valentinian.  Quintus's  religion  is  in 
general  accord  with  this  date.  As  Tychsen  saw,  Quintus  (7.  87  ff.) 
refers  to  the  Christian  doctrine  of  future  rewards  and  punishments. 

1  As  in  Dionysius  Periegetes,  1.  355.  2 Prolegometia,  pp.  v  ff. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  1 5 

His  gods  are  only  shadows  of  the  Homeric.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
power  of  Fate  and  its  supreme  control  in  all  things,  human  and  divine, 
are  so  strongly  insisted  upon  that  we  are  convinced  that  this  was  the 
living  persuasion  of  the  author.  It  is  blind,  omnipotent  (7.  69  ff.), 
more  powerful  than  the  gods  (11.  271  ff.),  etc.  The  passages  are  so 
numerous  and  so  vehement  in  expression  as  to  show  an  ardent  zeal  for 
restoring  a  perishing  paganism — which  zeal  was  especially  busy  at  the 
time  of  Julian.  Further,  similar  views  about  Fate  are  found  in  Maternus 
Firmicus  —  age  of  Constantine.  Finally,  Hermann  has  shown  from 
metrical  considerations  that  Quintus  lived  before  Nonnus.  So  far 
Koechly.  We  proceed  to  offer  the  evidence  on  which  our  own  view 
depends. 

The  date  ante  quern  is  thus  fixed.  Hermann  '  had  already  deter- 
mined that  more  exactly  than  Koechly  indicates,  to  wit,  not  only  before 
Nonnus,  but  also  before  the  Orphica,  which  he  thinks  was  at  least  as 
early  as  Julian.  The  evidence  which  I  proceed  to  give  makes  it 
probable  that  Quintus  wrote  as  early  as  the  first  half  of  the  third  cen- 
tury A.  D. 

In  the  first  place,  Tychsen  and  Koechly  are  wrong  in  saying  that 
we  lack  literary  evidence  before  the  Byzantine  scholiasts.  We  have,  it 
is  true,  no  direct  mention,  but  we  do  have  what  is  just  as  convincing — 
imitation.  The  imitator  is  Tryphiodorus.  Ferd.  Noack2  proves  this 
conclusively.  Many  passages  in  the  "Sack  of  Troy"  are  so  closely 
imitated  from  Quintus  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  their  source. 
Quintus  was  known  and  imitated,  then,  at  the  time  of  Tryphiodorus, 
whenever  that  was  (450  A.  D.?).  Before  such  bald  imitation  would  be 
attempted,  Quintus  would  likely  be  an  old  and  not  much  read  author. 

The  above  is  the  first  certain3  evidence  of  the  existence  of  Ouintus's 
poem.  He  is  not  mentioned  by  Philostratus,  nor  by  Aristeides,  who 
so  often  refer  to  Homer  and  the  events  of  the  Trojan  war.  This  does 
not  necessarily  show  that  Quintus  had  not  already  produced  his  poem, 

1  De aetate scriptoris  Argonauticorum,  p.  810. 

2"  Die  Quellen  des  Tryphiodoros,"  Hermes,  Vol.  XXVII  (1892),  pp.  452  ff. 

■s  These  lines  from  an  epigram  of  Pollianus  might  well  refer  to  Quintus.      It  has  been  seen  that  they 

are  imitated  from  Callimachus,  but  they  must  have  had  an  occasion,  such  as  Quintus's  poem  would  have 

furnished: 

toi/s  kvkAiovs  toutous  tovs  avrap  eweiTa  Keyovras 

fxicrut.   KiOTroSvTas  dWorpitav  cire'ioc, 


ot  6'  ovtws  Toy  'O/xrjpor  ayai5a>s  Aco7ro6"vTouo*ii' 
di<rre  ypd(peiv  rjStj  ixi)Viv  deiSe  8ea. 

Unfortunately  we  do  not  know  when  Pollianus  wrote.     He  is  referred  very  doubtfully  to  the  time  of 
Hadrian. 


1 6  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS     OF    SMYRNA 

but  that,  if  produced,  it  was  not  deemed  suitable  for  quotation  on 
account  of  its  poor  literary  merit,  its  narrow  circulation,  or  for  some 
other  like  cause. 

We  next  turn  to  review  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  poem  itself. 
This  is  of  two  kinds:  that  contained  (i)  in  the  matter,  and  (2)  in  the 
style. 

The  evidence  found  in  the  matter  is  not  very  abundant  nor  satis- 
factory. In  the  first  place,  the  reference  to  the  gladiatorial  games 
was,  as  Tychsen  remarks,  probably  written  before  their  prohibition  by 
imperial  decree;1  that  is,  at  any  time  in  the  first  three  centuries  after 
Augustus. 

The  laudation  of  yEneas,  the  city  by  the  Tiber,  and  the  Roman 
emperors  would  most  fittingly  belong  to  a  date  before  Constantine. 
We  may  admit,  with  Tychsen,  that  the  whole  Roman  people  claimed 
the  title  of  JEneadse,  and  that  Rome  was  always  regarded  as  the  capital 
city,  even  after  the  division  of  the  empire.  And  yet  such  a  definite 
statement  of  the  universal  powers  of  the  ^Eneadoe  and  the  city  by  the 
Tiber  is,  at  least  most  appropriately,  referred  to  a  period  before  the 
founding  of  Constantinople.     To  do  otherwise  is  rather  arbitrary. 

The  passages  on  religion  and  Fate,  quoted  by  Koechly,  settle 
nothing  as  to  Quintus's  date.  Quintus  does  clearly  enunciate  the  doc- 
trine of  a  supreme,  unchanging  Fate,  and  in  this  differs  toto  caelo  from 
Homer.  But  it  is  entirely  fanciful  to  see  in  this  any  connection  of 
Quintus  with  the  religious  propaganda  of  the  emperor  Julian.  It  is 
really  the  older  Greek  religion  that  suffers  from  the  accommodation  of 
Homeric  gods  to  this  supremacy  of  Fate.  By  mentioning  Agamem- 
non's irreverence,  Aphrodite's  adultery,  Polyxena's  sacrifice,  etc., 
Quintus  was  surely  not  seeking  to  gain  favor  for  the  old  religion.  A 
real  defender,  such  as  Philostratus  in  the  Heroicus,  either  denies  or 
explains  away  these  and  other  discreditable  incidents.  Further,  if 
Quintus  shows  any  zeal  for  his  doctrine  of  Fate,  why  not  refer  him  to 
the  age  of  Philostratus,  and  not  to  that  of  Julian  ?  There  is  as  much 
reason  in  the  one  as  in  the  other. 

Tychsen  and  Koechly  are  probably  wrong  in  thinking  that  Quintus 
(7.  87  ff.)  has  intended  any  reference  to  the  Christian  religion.  It  is 
almost  certain  that  Quintus  knew  the  Christian  doctrine,  but  it  is 
equally  certain  that  he  tried   to  avoid  everything  not  sanctioned  by 

1  The  word  avaKres  as  used  by  Quintus  probably  refers  to  the  emperors.  If  so,  then  the  passage 
must  have  been  written  considerably  earlier  than  Julian.  Though  gladiatorial  combats  continued  until 
the  time  of  Justinian  —  sixth  century — to  disgrace  the  Eastern  empire,  the  emperors  from  Constantine 
had  used  their  influence  against  them.     See  Bennett,  Christianity  and  Paganism,  p.  27. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  1 7 

Homer.  In  stating  the  doctrine  of  future  rewards  and  punishments 
he  believed  that  he  was  saying  nothing  discordant  with  Homer.  He 
makes  definite  what  was  only  by  implication  in  the  older  poet.  Of 
course,  this  defmiteness  belongs  to  a  later  age.  But  Quintus's  views 
are  far  from  being  Christian.  His  good  men  become  gods  and  are 
worshiped  with  prayers  and  sacrifice.  See  especially  the  case  of 
Achilles  (14.  179  ff.).     This  doctrine  was  certainly  as  old  as  Cicero.1 

Quintus's  doctrine  of  Fate  cannot  be  assigned  to  any  definite 
period.  Because  a  Latin  author,  Firmicus,  of  the  age  of  Constantine, 
has  expressed  similar  views  is  surely  little  reason  for  referring  Quintus 
to  the  age  of  Julian  or  later.  Fate  — ilia  fatalis  necessitas* — had  long 
played  an  important  part  in  philosophy  and  poetry.  Certainly  at  any 
time  after  Cicero  any  poet  who  so  desired  might  have  developed  the 
doctrine  as  Quintus  has  done,  for,  as  is  well  known,  in  the  first  centu- 
ries of  our  era  a  kind  of  fatalism  was  widespread  in  the  Roman  world.3 

The  matter  of  Quintus's  poem,  then,  proves  nothing  definitely  as 
to  his  date,  but,  so  far  from  sustaining  Tychsen  and  Koechly  in 
assigning  him  to  the  time  of  Julian  or  later,  it  makes  it  very  probable 
that  he  wrote  before  Constantine. 

This  conclusion,  that  Quintus  lived  earlier  than  Julian,  is  confirmed 
strongly  by  the  style  of  the  poem.  It  has  been  shown  by  G.  Her- 
mann4 that,  from  considerations  of  style,  Quintus  must  be  earlier  than 
the  writer  of  the  Orphic  Argonaatica,  whereas  the  latter  must  have 
been  earlier  than  Nonnus.  This  would  place  the  writer  of  the  Argo- 
nautica  not  later  than  Julian,  and  Quintus  at  least  a  generation  earlier. 

It  may  be  well  to  review  briefly  the  arguments  of  Hermann.  The 
two  features  of  style  of  an  epic  poet  from  which  we  may  draw  conclu- 
sions as  to  his  date  are  metre  and  language.  First  with  respect  to 
metre :  A  new  norm  for  the  epic  hexameter  was  introduced  by 
Nonnus,  and  sedulously  followed  by  his  contemporaries  and  succes- 
sors.    Before  his  time  epic  poets,  imitating  the  masculine  numbers  of 

1  See  Mayor's  note  to  De  natura  deorutn,  I,  9.  Rohde,  Psyche,  p.  656,  note:  "  Der  Mensch 
hofft  nach  dem  Tode  tous  vvv  v|3pi£ui'Tas  vnb  ttAovtov  «ai  8vvdp.e<ds  k.t.X.  zu  sehn  a£Cav  oYktjv  TiVoi'Tas 
Plut.  n.p.  suav.  lv.  1105  C."  The  numerous  passages  quoted  by  Rohde  show  that  the  doctrine  of  future 
rewards  and  punishments  was  widespread. 

2  Cicero,  De  natura  deorum,  I,  55. 

3  Compare,  e.g.,  Philostratus,  Life  of Apollonius,  VII,  8,  9,  p.  132:  SieAe'yeTo  \Lkv  vnep  Moipwv 
Kiu  avayKTjs  jrepi  to  ye/nos  rfjs  2/u.vp>"lSi  iv  cj  o  MeAijs,  etSius  Se  Toy  Nepovav  (is  avTcxa  6J)  apfoi,  Sijj'ei  rov 
\6yov  Kal  on  p-T)5'  ol  rvpavvot  ra  e/c  Moipuip  otot  j3ia£€0"#cu,  ^aA«^s  re  eiKoro?  iSpvfxevyjs  Ao/xenat'oO 
jrpbs  tuS  McArjTi,  67rio"Tpe'i|/as  «s  aiiTrjv  roiif  irapovraf  "oroijTe,"  elnev  "  a>s  no\i)  Sia/uapTayeis  Moipwi'  xal 
avay/CTjs  •  <J  yap  jacra  <re  TVpavvevcrai.  Tre'jrpwTai,  toOtoi'  kolv  airoKTeivys,  di'a(3nio"eToi."  This  is  entirely 
in  accord  with  Quintus. 

ADe  aetate  scriptoria  Argonauticorum  dissertatio. 


1 8  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

Homer,  used  the  caesura  which  falls  after  the  first  syllable  of  the  third 
foot.  But  this  caesura  becomes  harsh  and  rough  unless  relieved  by 
other  breaks,  such  as  are  used  with  wonderful  variety  and  skill  in 
Homer,  especially  if  there  is  a  like  break  in  many  places  in  the  hex- 
ameter. The  verse  is  much  worse  if  its  numbers  are  broken  and 
weakened  by  a  trochaic  caesura  in  the  fourth  foot ;  and  this  is  also  the 
more  troublesome  if  the  other  kind  of  caesura,  that  after  the  first  syl- 
lable of  the  foot,  is  frequent.  When  these  things  and  the  shortening 
of  vowels  before  a  mute  and  a  liquid  [Attica  correptio) — a  thing  wholly 
inconsistent  with  the  majesty  of  heroic  verse  —  had  almost  destroyed 
all  metric  excellence  of  the  hexameter,  Nonnus  introduced  the  follow- 
ing reforms:  (i)  he  relieved  the  heavy  spondees  with  light  dactyls; 
(2)  he  introduced  the  trochaic  caesura  in  the  third  foot ;  (3)  he 
banished  the  trochaic  caesura  from  the  fourth  foot ;  (4)  he  freed  the 
hexameter  from  Attic  correption  ;  (5)  he  removed  elision  as  far  as 
possible  ;  (6)  he  admitted  dae'snia-'  only  in  Homeric  formulae,  and  in 
these  very  rarely;  (7)  and,  finally,  he  disallowed  the  lengthening  of 
short  syllables  in  caesura.  The  result  was  that  heroic  verse,  losing  its 
ancient  gravity,  gained  again  numbers  rotund  and  elegant,  and  was 
made  so  complicated  that  only  the  learned  could  write  it.1 

Hermann  next  makes  an  exhaustive  analysis  of  the  epic  poets  from 
Theocritus,  XXV,  to  Nonnus  and  his  followers,  with  reference  to  the 
following  points :  caesura,  lengthening  in  caesura,  hiatus,  and  Attic 
correption. 

First,  Ouintus,  like  Oppian,  Halieutica,  is  almost  as  free  as  Homer 
from  the  trochaic  caesura  in  the  fourth  foot.  Examples  are  found  in 
1.  12  ;  3.  67  ;  5.  209,  272,  375  ;  11.  96.  In  lengthening  on  account  of 
caesura  Ouintus  shows  a  score  of  examples,  but  nearly  all  either  copied 
or  imitated  from  Homer.  Such  are  vtto  ve<£eo>v  (1.  39)  and  tc  Aiyewi/ 
(3.  638).  In  regard  to  hiatus,  Hermann  says  that  the  more  recent  the 
poet,  the  more  he  abstained  from  hiatus.  Quintus  in  this  respect 
shows  a  much  closer  following  of  Homer  than  poets  like  Oppian,  who 
are  commonly  regarded  as  earlier.  He  more  nearly  approaches  Apol- 
lonius  Rhodius.  But  his  use  of  hiatus  is  nearly  always  sanctioned  by 
Homeric  analogy.  It  is  in  Attic  correption  that  Quintus  shows  the 
greatest  departure  from  true  Homeric  art  in  verse-building.  This 
fault,  found  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  in  all  late  epics,  was  so  exceed- 
ingly rare  in  the  older  poems  that  there  is  hardly  any  more  certain 
proof  of  a  recent  date.     However,  lack  of  skill  in  the  poet  must  be 

1  Hermann,  Orphica,  pp.  6go  ff. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  I 9 

taken  into  account ;  the  more  ignorant  the  poet,  the  more  he  indulged 
in  this  license  of  Attic  correption.  It  seems  more  common  in  the 
poem  of  Quintus  than  in  any  other  epics  except  the  Orphica,  and  is 
convincing  proof  that  he  was  either  unskilled  or  comparatively  late 
and  close  in  point  of  time  to  the  Orphica.1 

This  is  a  conclusion  in  which  we  do  not  follow  Hermann.  Why 
should  this  poet,  who  in  all  other  points  of  metre  is  much  nearer  Homer 
than  most  writers  of  the  Christian  era,  show  such  negligence  in  this  ? 
It  will  hardly  do  to  say  that  his  late  date  accounts  for  it  altogether. 
As  is  shown  by  Hermann,  this  fault  was  carefully  avoided  by  such 
writers  as  Oppian  {Halieutica),  and  Moschus  only  rarely  admitted  it. 
It  is  very  frequent  only  in  the  Cynegeiica,  whose  author  was  an 
unlearned  man,  Quintus,  and  the  Orphica.  Quintus,  however,  was  not 
unlearned.  In  other  points  of  metre  he  is  most  Homeric.  It  seems 
probable  that  he  did  not  believe  Attic  correption  a  fault.  Perhaps  also 
he  was  influenced  by  the  usage  of  the  tragedians  or  the  Latin  epics, 
especially  Virgil,  with  whom,  as  is  now  generally  admitted,  he  was 
familiar.  Inasmuch  as  he  did  not  borrow  his  usage  from  any  Greek 
epic,  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  show  to  what  period  it  belongs.  It 
might  have  been  late ;  it  might  have  been  comparatively  early.  But 
when  we  find  the  Orphica,  which  is  faulty  in  other  points  of  prosody, 
very  faulty  also  in  this,  we  may  perhaps  infer  that  its  author  had 
Quintus  in  hand.  Thus  the  faultiness  of  the  Cynegeiica  is  due  to 
ignorance  of  the  author;  that  of  the  Orphica,  to  the  precedence  of 
Quintus ;  while  that  of  Quintus  seems  peculiar  to  himself  and  offers 
little  evidence  as  to  date,  except  that  the  Posthomerica  was  written 
before  the  Orphica. 

Further  points  of  excellence  in  Quintus's  verse,  as  is  shown  by 
Koechly,2  are  the  harmony  of  versification,  which  he  was  careful  to 
procure  by  a  constant  variation  of  the  principal  caesura  and  the  admix- 
ture of  spondees,  and  his  Homeric  use  of  two  spondees  in  a  comma, 
which  was  not  allowed  by  Nonnus.  Except  in  the  matters  of  trochaic 
caesura  in  the  third  foot  and  the  use  of  Attic  correption,  Quintus  fol- 
lowed Homer  very  closely.  He  was  no  mean  artist.3  If  then  metre  is 
an  evidence  of  date,  Quintus  would  seem  to  be  comparatively  early. 

We  now  return  to  Hermann  for  another  point  of  style.4  He  finds 
that  in  the  Orphica  61  and  a-cjuv  are  used  frequently  before  a  noun  ;  that 

ilbid.,  p.  755.  Hermann  in  Addenda  to  his  dissertation  finds  a  dozen  instances  of  Attic  cor- 
reption in  Homer. 

2  Prolegomena,  pp.  xxxii  ff.  *  Ibid.,  p.  xlix.  4  Op,  cit.,  pp.  792  ff. 


20  A    STUDY    OF    QUIN'.'US    OF    SMYRNA 

61  is  used  in  the  plural  as  well  as  the  singular,  and  refers  to  the  first, 
second,  or  third  person  ;  that  it  is  used  accusatively  as  the  object  of  a 
verb.1  The  writer  of  the  Orphica  did  not  develop  these  uses  himself. 
Hence  he  must  have  had  a  predecessor  whose  usage  at  least  suggested 
that  of  the  Orphica.  His  predecessor,  Herrmann  believes,  was  Quintus. 
However,  the  passages  on  which  Hermann  relied  to  show  that  Quintus 
used  a<f>Lv  before  a  noun  {ante  nometi)  (7.  474;  2.  163),  or  where  he 
thought  01  used  as  a  plural  (3.  730,  674,  etc.),  or  accusatively  (3.  57, 
I3I  5  7-  363).  have  been  so  satisfactorily  emended2  or  explained  that 
they  cannot  be  used  to  support  his  contention.  But  Quintus  does  use 
61  and  vfyiv  with  the  genitive  of  the  participle,  and  61  in  the  same  case 
joined  directly  to  the  verb  {e.g.,  2.  244,  245;  14.  170,  171).  These 
uses,  says  Hermann,  were  developed  by  Quintus  from  suggestions  of 
them  in  Homer.  The  writer  of  the  Orphica,  following  Quintus,  made 
a  much  more  radical  departure.     Hence  Quintus  wrote  first. 

The  case  as  Hermann  puts  it  has  been  considerably  changed  by 
the  emendation  of  Quintus.  There  is  now  a  wide  gap  between  the 
usage  of  Quintus  and  that  of  the  Orphica.  It  seems  likely  that  there 
was  some  intermediary  who,  going  beyond  Quintus,  developed  the 
usage  as  we  have  it  in  the  Orphica.  Such  things  as  the  Orphica 's  use 
of  ot  and  <r<f>iv,  says  Hermann,  come  into  language  only  by  degrees,  and 
departure  is  made  from  the  customary  usage  gradually.  In  the 
absence  of  any  work,  except  the  Orphica,  in  which  traces  of  this 
usage  are  found,  we  should  believe  that  the  authors  whom  he  used 
are  lost,  rather  than  that  he  was  the  first  to  use  the  innovation.  Orphic 
usage,  then,  must  be  traced  back  to  Quintus,  or,  as  now  seems  probable, 
to  a  lost  intermediary  between  Quintus  and  the  writer  of  the  Orphica. 
At  any  rate,  Quintus  is  considerably  earlier  in  this  point  of  style  than 
the  Orphica. 

Quintus  has  other  stylistic  peculiarities  which  point  surely  to  a  late 
period,  but  not  necessarily  so  late  as  Julian.  These  will  be  discussed 
at  length  in  another  chapter  ;  it  is  sufficient  only  to  mention  them 
here.  They  are  (1)  vocabulary,  which  shows  forms  not  used  until  the 
Christian  era;  (2)  un-Homeric  dialectical  forms;  (3)  the  use  of  o<f>e\ov 
with  the  indicative  in  wishes  ;  (4)  the  use  of  6/aws  almost  as  a  con- 
junction ;  (5)  the  use  of  (.ktvoOcv  for  noOev,  and  of  ZvBtv  for  Ivda. 

Two  other  points  of  Quintus's  style  which  indicate  a  comparatively 
early  date  are  stated  by  Winkler.3    He  quotes  Wernicke  to  the  effect  that 

x"  Sunt  etiam  loci,  in  quibus  ot  videri  possit  accusativus  esse"   (p.  795). 

2  Hermann  suspected  that  these  uses  might  be  owing  to  corrupt  text  (p.  806). 

3  "Einige  Bemerkungen  zu  Quintus  Smyrnaeus,"  Programm  n.  o,  Laudes-Realgymnasiums, 
(Wien,  1875). 


BIOGRAPHICAL  21 

the  suffix  <£i(v)  is  nowhere  found  in  Tryphiodorus  and  writers  of  his 
age.  There  are  a  dozen  instances  of  it  in  Quintus.1  Again,  in  his 
infinitives  Quintus  has  all  the  Homeric  endings,  nearly  in  the  Homeric 
proportion.  The  endings  -aav  and  -/xevat  are  used  neither  by  Tryphi- 
odorus nor  Coluthus;  -vcu  is  used  four  times  and  -fxtv  three  times  by 
Tryphiodorus;  neither  is  used  by  Coluthus.2 

We  have  thus  seen  that  the  evidence  of  the  poem  itself,  in  point 
both  of  matter  and  of  style,  argues  a  date  earlier  than  Constantine.  In 
fact,  there  is  nothing  in  the  poem  inconsistent  with  any  date  after  the 
revival  of  Greek  letters  in  the  second  century  A.  D.  At  that  time 
Latin  literature  had  passed  its  flower,  and  Greek  became  once 
more  the  language  of  literary  expression.  The  Roman  emperors 
wrote  in  Greek ;  Greek  grammarians  and  scholars,  such  as  Favorinus 
and  Herodes  Atticus,  taught  at  Rome.  Marcus  Aurelius,  Epictetus, 
Arrian,  Plutarch,  yElian,  Lucian,  the  Oppians,  Babrius  —  the  great 
names  in  the  history  of  the  literature  of  this  century  —  all  wrote  in  Greek. 
At  the  close  of  the  century,  too,  we  find  authors  living  at  Smyrna, 
or  well  acquainted  with  the  place,  who  show  a  remarkable  familiarity 
with  Homer.  I  refer  to  Aristeides  of  Smyrna  and  the  Philostrati. 
These  authors  are  constantly  quoting  Homer,  and  one  of  the  Philo- 
strati in  a  treatise  on  the  Trojan  heroes,  the  Heroicus,  tries  to  justify  the 
old  religion  in  the  eyes  of  the  Greek  world.  This  treatise,  and  others 
of  its  kind,  suggest  that  interest  in  the  old  Trojan  myths  was  great. 
It  was  a  time  most  likely  to  produce  a  poet  like  Quintus. 

All  these  considerations  make  it  almost  certain  that  Tychsen  and 
Koechly  are  wrong  in  placing  Quintus  as  late  as  the  emperor  Julian. 
Perhaps  we  should  be  right  in  assigning  him  to  the  close  of  the  second 
and  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  A.  D. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  18.  2  Ibid.,  p.  32. 


III.     THE  STYLE  OF  QUINTUS  AS  RELATED  TO  HOMER. 


I.       METRE. 

The  peculiarities  of  Quintus's  verse  have  already  been  discussed, 
and  may  be  omitted  here. 

II.   VOCABULARY. 

The  vocabulary  of  Quintus,  exclusive  of  a  great  number  of  proper 
names,1  contains  about  thirty-eight  hundred  words.  Of  these,  about 
three  thousand,  or  80  per  cent.,  are  Homeric.  In  frequency  of  occur- 
rence the  percentage  of  Homeric  words  is  much  greater,  perhaps  not 
less  than  95  per  cent.  Many  of  the  remaining  eight  hundred  are  com- 
pounds formed  on  Homeric  analogy;  others  are  found  very  early  in 
the  poets  and  have  an  epic  flavor.  The  result  is  that  in  vocabulary 
Quintus  presents  a  very  Homeric  appearance. 

The  following  list  will  show  the  un-Homeric  words  found  in  Quin- 
tus, arranged  according  to  the  authors  in  whom  they  first  occur,  in  the 
following  order :  nouns,  adjectives,  adverbs,  verbs,  the  simple  words 
preceding  the  compounds.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  list  covers  the 
whole  period  from  the  Homeric  Hymns  to  the  second  century  A.  D., 
while  there  are  many  words,  nearly  all  compounds,  not  accredited  to 
any  author  before  Quintus. 

HOMERIC    HYMNS. 


Kt.6d.pai  5.  66 
Kivtrbs   14.  175 
irtdov  3.  88 
irptfMvoio   I.  490 
KaKOcppaSlr]   12.  554 
aXK-rjevres  4.  247 
dekirrov  4.  20 
&ira,\&xpo'i  12.  1 07 
&iv\r)roL  2.  199 
&(ppa<TTOi   I.  31 


&\€i<pa   14.  265 
fijXoio  6.  37 
Ka\ir)v  7.  333 
6a.pio-iJ.6s  7.  316 


(3a66aKios  3.  105 
fiapifipop.ov  14.  609 
flapvKTVTros   14.  530 

ipiPptx°i-°  3-  J7I 
d(3pip.66vp.ov  1.  787 
Trav6\(3ios   7.  83 
•n-epiKXt/crTy  4.  385 
Trepi<ppadios  5-  !43 

TTVKLvb(ppOVO%    5-   98 

viroj3piJxlov  !4-  650 

HESIOD. 

o-lp.j3\oLO   1.  440 
ap.r)veo-cn  11.  383 

l)5/37JS    6.  212 
dSdp.avT0S   I.  389 


(pepfopios  3.  22 
ij/a/Aadwdei   7.  116 
&tt£k  4.  540 
elaoTrlcrw  5.  55 
epLiraXip  4.  366 
(pepjiop.lvrio'i.    I.  799 
a.Trovoo'cpLcrOeiffa   3.  572 
Ka.Tadap.va.TO  4.  121 
<rvvr)p(jap.ev  3.  100 


irapaifiaalrjcTi.   13.  38 1 
dXyivdevra   2.  253 
ava\4ov  4.  79 
ipdecrffa   13.  389 


1  See  Spitznkr's  "  Index  Nominum,"  corrected,  at  the  end  of  Zimmermann's  edition. 

22 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER 


23 


Orjrjri)  1.  629 
devdov  4.  10 
drpowos  7.  247 
£ypeKi58oip.os  1.  180 
ipifffjiapdyoio  13.  362 
£v<r<pvpos  1.  115 


(pdpay^iv  14.  556 

fi\t)xpt>v  2.  182 
(piXol-evlris  13.  294 
XcuoD  4.  204 
p.6\i(35os  7.  386 
olda.Xe'a.i  4.  205 


6p<pavlri  5.  555 
dfj.oij3aLri(Ti  6.  177 
dap.ivol  9.  546 
ddaKpvs   13.  421 
aKivf)Tii)   5-  329 
dpep-fpfa   13.  349 
d7r\eros  5.  391 
fiapvydoijTroio  3.  39 1 


dypevrtuv  I.  543 
dXv£ts   I.  478 
/3u06j/  6.  331 
Sd/cruXot   13.  153 
Beipdo-iv  2.  561 
5/^wh   14.  38 
dvcrts  7.  308 
'nnrao~la.i    I.  456 
X^at^a   1.  315 
Xij3d8e<r<ri  10.  418 
Xi7i>in  8.  469 
iraprjidas  q.  372 
pot/35oj  10.  70 
<ricd<pos  13.  314 
<tt^7os  8.  43 
<rr6Xos  3.  587 
Ti5yU/uara  4.  396 
iii/'os  7.  323 

Xok-f)  5-  324 
i/'e/cdSetrcri  1.  345 
oKiyodpavlrj   1.  764 


hesiod — continued 

Kardoiaov  7.  409 
viroxdovlrj  3.  64 
cri/i'w;t<x56i'  14.  517 
<T/j.apdyi£ov  14.  558 
ifiviev  4.  129 
<pr)iJ.Lfr<7i  13.  538 

EARLY    LYRIC    POETS. 

repirvd   1.  740 
dp.<pnrepiKTi6vwv  6.  224 
&<f>VKTOv   3.  463 
iwieXnTa   14.  29 1 
evp.ev£ovre$  3.  190 
7rai560ei'  6.  608 

PINDAR. 

dvcr^arov  8.  373 
^7rd£ios   3.  115 
eijiXKiop  7.717 

eureka   13-  3°7 
Kaxdcppovos   4.  527 
p.eya<rdeve'i'  2.  140 
iroXvyvap.irTOi.aiv  I.  286 
v\f/iX6(pov  2.  462 


dvTjdjpTJVTO     I4.   376 

ewib'epKop.t'vr)  2.  617 
Trept.eip.tvos  5.  504 
7reptaxe  2.  605 
avvipawTO  9.  359 


drpep-ius  13.  36 
dpor pevea kov  5.  62 
diap.ei(3eTai  10.  34 1 
eee7rX(£foi'TO   II.  49 
Trepiviao-erai  5.  288 


irpdiprjOev   14.  378 
/caxXdfajj/  2.  346 
p.rjuv'veTO  2.  490 
eKireir6vr)T0   12.  1 50 
i^eviiruv  2.  1 15 
irapoTpvvovres  8.  270 
rrpocrivveire  2.  93 
ffvvr}ppoae  12.  1 40 


FIFTH-CENTURY    DRAMATISTS. 


irpopoXrio'i  9.  378 
aWeplas  2.  666 
{$0Tpv6e<r<rav  6.  473 

7°<^   13-  542 
dovpiov   12.  110 
njiou   II.  169 
p.a^/i.SirjO'iv   I.  357 
poyepol  2.  577 
o"ri/</>e\?7S   I.  295 
raXa6i'  1.  759 
direct  2.  638 
dp.<piTbp.ois  5-  208 
d7roTOj'  14.  539 
drpecTTos  8.  340 
drpvrov  7.  585 
(Sadvpplt;oio  4.  202 
8oX6<ppova  12.  364 
5wraX7&>*   14.  68 
evdaXies  5.  77 
evKTeavbv  6.  617 
etfijeiyoj'  7.  223 


evirpdipovs   1.  824 
ivrpixov   12.  143 
p.eyaX6<ppovas  6.  86 
peXdp.j3porov  2.  32 
p.rj\ov6p.oi  5.  433 
/xovd/xirvKas  4.  545 
veo5p.r)TQ}V  3.  405 
bjxiffTios   14.  187 
7roXvKXai5T<uo   1.  806 
7ri7p7r^oos  6.  237 
<paea<popov  2.  186 
/3cu6y   1.  80 
oreppov   11.  195 
ewrraX&os   I.  622 
dwudev   I.  580 
7T^)l£    1.  821 

dX7^i'e(r/ce  4.  416 
d<ppt£ovres  4.  548 
Kivvpop.e'vri  6.  8 1 
Xtx^wwvTes  5.  40 
pju^ovaa  13.  244 


24 


A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 


fifth-century  dramatists — continued. 


tadevov  14.  98 
cwapyCxra.   14.  283 
<pa.idpiJva.vTO  9.  467 

<poivlx0y  I4-3I7 
&vairr6£ai   12.  331 
avtarevov  3.  603 
dvoidrfcravro  9.  345 
dvoiSrjvat   14.  470 
avoi(Ju!)£e<TKe   14.  28 1 
airtppeev  2.  53 I 
d<p€i8rjO'U(Tiv   12.  63 
8toiyop.{voio  14.  496 
iveicplvOri  5.  648 
4<T<poiruv  3.  433 

PROSE    WRITERS 

cpevOos  8.  209 

fivoSos  14.  225 

lo-r)p.eplr)v  7.  305 

Karaiylffi  4.  572 

H^viyyas  5.  327 

%i<plr)cn  9.  176 

■jripara  2.  1 18 

o-ir6pov  4.  427 

tok£toio   11.  26 

vXatcrjai  14.  286 

/9Xtjt6s  3.  429 

de^ev&ao'tj'  7.  7 

av-qXia,  2.  580  (C  I  G  5172) 

a\va\6ia.%  3.  33 

&o~Tropov  4.  428 

5iau-y&'  7.  732 

5i«5&s  5.  79 

dvo-a\dta  12.  408 


iicirptirei   1.  38 
i^ppeev  8.  192 
££^\v£as  9.  261 
fn-f77eXda<7'/ce  14.  397 
iirtyrfdeev  2.  460 
iTridtivovtriv  10.  303 
iiriKTViriovcri  2.  383 
i-Kivlcraerai  9.  416 
£ireppot£r)o~e  8.  322 
^7rt(T7re^5ovTa  7.  316 
iirio-Tdpovres  2.  638 
icpup/xaivev  2.  96 
Ka.dJ)pp.o<rev  12.  142 

OF    FIFTH    AND    FOURTH 

lojBiXoitriv  4.  187 
dfiwpdtpios   10.  205 
iro\vcrx<-o'tes  9-  500 
crvvvecpis  2.  347 
XvStjv   II.  384 
/coiXafvovrai  9.  382 
T€Tpvp.4voi  I.  637 
ap:<pi6dvwp.ev  6.  449 
diroi/ai'Wj'Ta  4.  441 
Sffero  7.  26 
Sieypo/jL^voio  13.  158 
SUreive  II.  378 
^veiAiJo'aj'TO  14.  294 
ivecTpufpaTO  I.  308 
^ira7fvee»'  6.  235 
iirip:i]XO-vb(i)vra.(.  14.  427 
iiri<rK&£ovTa  4.  211 
iirurroptjicn  6.  102 


KaTaidofi^vrji   I.  1 7 
/caTiJwKe  2.  58 
KarecTTiipavTO   14.  376 
■wepitriirTarai.  3.  650 
irepippriyvtivres  8.  6 1 
irpocnb'iada.i  8.  435 
(fvyKap-ieiv  12.  ill 
ffvynelaadai.  1.  792 
ffiip.ireaov  12.  174 
ovvifftrtTO   1.  237 
avvtpxerai  1.  356 
<ri/j'7j\i/0oj'  3.  18 
<Tvv9a,vieadai.  3.  249 

CENTURIES    B.    C. 

KapTjfiaptovTOL  6.  266 
KaTiMvovres   9.  439 
Ka.Twiu6uv  3.  133 
koXttw^v  g.  174 
irap-QibpriVTO   10.  200 
TrapKarticeiTO  5.  102 
TrepipXvc/av  4.  9 
Treptdpavo-deto-a.  7.  617 
irepiv-ffqaavTes  7.  163 
ir€pio~Tpw<pwvTes  6.  504 
irepicrx^ovro  13.  329 
irepiTr/Kerai.   10.  420 
7Ton/cXt5f'eTat  11.  313 
inravdo~rav  4.  204 
virippeev  8.  234 
virirpep-e  9.  228 
inreT6<pero  5.  643 


ALEXANDRINE  POETS  EXCEPT  APOLLONIUS 


aypeurrjpe  2.  282 
icrxapewvi  5-  5°4 
6vT7)pwv  4.  554 
d)pvdp.6s  13.  10 1 
alyoKeprji  1.  356 
fia9v<y-Koir£\ov   I.  316 
^apvSoiirovi  9.  426 


a,\KT-f)piov  6.  364 
Ppuyp.oTiTi   I.  350 
Ktpaljjs  I.  149 
idX<>^^t\v  10.  332a 


\a<xp6vov  1.  593 
irepi-qyios  2.  105 
TrepackeirSv  3.  231 
7roXuxa»'5^o   I.  527 
TroXi/ciSuvoj  13.  99 
rtrpafibewv  6.  547 
5i<r<rd/«  2.  56 

NICANDER. 

etfYXa-y&oj'  13.  260 
veoKfj.^T<p  7.  29 
iroKvppol^wv  1.  156 


RHODIUS    AND    NICANDER. 
etWrt   1.  389 
a\veo-Tov6.x7l<3'e  2.  608 
&vrep6r)o-e  8.  326 
&irtxOo/j.ai  5-  465 
iiriffKidovffa.  2.  479 
7re/3iAcXtff'o»'TiH  2.  350 
(TVvrfKolrjvro   II.  472 

piffle?  6.  381 
■7repi<rwalpovo~a.  1.  624 
vir£K\a<re  4.  483 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER 


25 


dWirpoaivqs  10.  407 

PpvX-fl  5-  392 
SarjiMxrvvrjai.  1.  176 

KT)8fpOV7JOS    J.   658 

fivx^TOiffi  6.  477 
\evicat>li)i  14.  314 

dSpavlr]  9.  456 
d.Ktj8etri<ri  3.  524 
dp.^o\lrj   I.  431 
6vqiro\lt\   14.  332 
Io86kt]v  1.  339 
irapa.«pa<riri<Tiv   I.  781 
airpcxp&Toio   12.  509 
dirjeplri   11.  456 
etfStop  9.  107 
veo6rjy4i  4.  426 

vi}xUT0S  I-  417 
6p-f)0eas  9.  405 


APOLLONIUS    RHODIUS. 

evTp6xa^ot  4.  344 
vwrnbri  4.  Ill 
Cjp.ojibpoi.aiv   1.  222 
ipypaly  7-455 
ap.oij3a.8bv  8.  5°3 
ivTeiripTjde  13.  482 
dn-oT?7\60i  5.  540 
ZKiroOev  3.  437 
eirupadbv  13.  541 
ip\vo-ev   I.  242 
pbpi-avro  4.  270 
drX^o-at   10.  378 
ir\-r)ppXipu>v  10.  172 
re/CT^rovres   12.  28 
dp<pip£papire  3.  614 
di'/axoi'   14.  31 
elffatovret  2.  64 
ivtiraXro  10.  467 


^-^x^o-ex   *4-  462 
imPpbpeov  3.  506 
iirucdpfiaXe  14.  583 
^7riKX<Woi/<ra  8.  426 
iiriXpep-tdw  7.  319 
/caTeirp^i"'"'   H«  259 
KaT-q<pibciJVTO  3.  9 
iraptdpio-e  10.  238 
iraprjXiTois   10.  305 
irapriyopiovres  I.  777 
wepijipopiovai  7.  240 
7reptKa/3/3aXe  1.  819 
irepucawireo-e  3.  281 
irepucdrdeTO  6.  1 96 
(TwreKT^i'aj'TO  4.  132 
viroSp'^o'o'ovTes  12.  134 
viroTp.-fiyov<riv  5.  244 


PROSE    WRITERS    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    ERA,  PLUTARCH,  iELIAN,  LUCIAN,  ETC. 


ln}T-f)pia  7.  61 
ftrtyttu   13.  555 
av{p.j3aT0i>  8.  484 
Sopijktijtoi.  5.  160 
l\a<ppoTrb8<av  4.  512 
7roXi/o'^e^os  3.  128 
i;ir/x«''0«'  9-  383 


Kovax^Si^  5-21 
dvidrjKe  7.  44 
airrip.6.\8vvev  8.  209 
Sie\lo~o~eTO  6.  565 
elo-Kar^8vo-av  5.  301 
iKirpo<pvybvra  6.  284 
£i>op.bpl-aTO  9.  384 


ivepp'fjyvvvro  13.  460 
iiriK&irireo~e  3.  399 
KaTao~id8vao~9at  12.  309 
irepLvfix*TO   14.  548 
ffvviireipev  1.  61 2 
o~vvev<p,fip.Tio~av  6.  93 
\nrofipw9ivra,  9.  382 


7ri;Xewvaj  2.  598 
dpoipadlys  5.  65 
6rpa\£ai   II.  107 
deXXoir65rjs   10.  189 
dirporloiTTa  7.  73 
Papv-rix^os  I.  155 
Papvo-rbpy  I.  337 
Sovporbpoi   1.  250 

Kappas   I.  587 

Koipavlr)s  5.  552,  Dion.  Per. 

d^ToX/ijs  2.  636 

KuSijevra  5.  636 

X^S/tji/  5.  523 

aKpoviJxws  8.  157 

dvSpoftbpoi  6.  247 

dX'™*'  4-  431 
e6pvTr£8oio  3.  396 
ivcrdev&s  2.  363 
e^rdx^os  2.  402 


oppian,  Cynegetica  and  Halieutica. 

£o~£k\v€v  1.  509  (C  I.  4738)    d7ro0ai5pi5j>a>'Tes  5.  616 


etf7Xtixm  8.  406 
6pa<r6<ppovos  1.  4 
Travef/ceXoj  2.  213 
dQpibwv  5.  373 
Xpeptdovras  3.  681 
dvao~dpalvovTes  4.  244 

ANTHOLOGIES,    EPIGRAMS. 

p.€Tdrpoirov  7.  27 1 
iravSepictes  2.  443 
irivvT6<ppovos  14.  630 

XiiX/ceo'T^x*"/1'  2.  440 
irdXi  5.  463 
diroT^Xe  10.  320 
Se'xM/vTO  3.  755 
4K\(t)0-avT0  II.  141 
«Kpu<£e  1 .  393 

KVK\dJdt}    10.  232 

pep.bp7]rai  10.  293 


iwio~p.apayr}o~e  9.  132 
irepiKUK(>o~a,vTes   1.  800 
7repi7rX770oi/(ra   1 4.  290 
7rept7rot7rwo»'Tes  3.  713 
trpovhvdai  1 3.  38 
0-vpp.oyiovTes  5-  l°5 


&p(pex^v  $•  106 
KarairpTJaai  9.  539 
irapeKTeT&vvffTO  3.  337 
Kartrevfcv  7.  676 
ireplfre  9.  44 1 
irepi^elovo-a   10.  279 
irepadS va/ro  8.  I 
TrepnrT<l)o~o~ovTes  11.445 
vireK\d<rdr]  1.  596 
uirorXiJcro/iai  3.  57 1 
UTTOTX^vat   12.  388 


26 


A    STUDY    OF    QU1NTUS    OF    SMYRNA 


a-tXM  9-  372 
8pojidSes  3.  684 
eSvurat  5.  525 

IJ.0Ta.03V    4.  212 

-rapeid   12.  309 
Xep/J-ari   14.  263 
a\a.iradvo<x'uvq  7.  12 
dv-rvocrvvr/  2.  155 
£rfK7}fju)<rtii>7]<n.   1 3.  388 
KaTaifiafflai  6.  484 
Traidocpovija  2.  322 
5at5aX6evra   I.  141 
ipep.va.lri  2.  510 
t8pova  4.  488 
opcpvr/ecrcra  3.  657 
pwrr-qevra  7.  7 1 5 
dd(77reT0i'   I.  1 1 1 
a7Ku\6SoyTt  6.  218 
d7Xa6-7r£7r\os   II.  240 
dSdi/cTos  1.  196 
aepcnirir-go'iv  3.  211 
d/ciwros  4.  319 
a\iTpe<peos  3.  272 
afupLrvnov   I.  1 59 
dvepKea  3.  494 
airplcrTwv  12.  137 
^advKvr)pi8a  I.  55 
fiadinreirXov  1 3.  552 
Padvppuxp-oi   I.  687 
(HooSprjTTJpe   I.  524 
/3oo<7<r6a  5.  64 
5vo-a\driToto-(.v  9.  388 
itr-qepioi.   2.  573 
eiriKeprop-a   I.  1 36 
ipldvpov   I.  532 
evdaXireos  4.  44 1 
evKOfj.doJVTa  4.  403 
evKTVTreovrt   I.  677 
Oerjyeveos  4.  586 
6eoKp.riT01.o~1  3.  419 
6pao-vx6pp-ys  4-  502 
KvavoKpr)8ep.vos  4.  1 15 
KvavoirXoKapois  5-  345 
p.eyaXof3pep.eTao  2.  508 
p.eyaXo/3pvxoio  $.  188 
ve(peXrjyepeo$  4.  80 
dXiyoo-Oeveuv  8.  460 


QUINTUS. 

-Ta.vel8a.Tov  1.  88 
TToXvaeffiv   I.  253 
TToXvaXdeo'iv  2.  658 
7roXi)ax^'  3.  421 
-rovXv(36eiov  3.  239 
TTOvXvireXedpos  3.  396 
TToXvreipe'i  4.  120 
TTvpofibpoicriv  2.  197 
pod6-re-rXos  3.  608 
o-TV<peXu>8ei  12.  449 
Tavvrrpd-pov  9.  437 
Tavv<p86yyoicn  11.  no 
rawxetX^es  3.  221 
Xa.XKeop.lTp7)v  1.  274 
8pdy8rjv  13.  91 
poip8r)86v  5.  381 
ivuiraSdv  2.  84 
Ka.Teva.vTa  3.  69 
Karidvs  7.  136 
dXSopevr)  9.  475 
TrovTwdrj  14.  604 
dp.(pa,ydcra.vTO  "] ,  722 
dp.(peXeXi^ap.evij}    II.  465 
dpcpepvO-qve   I.  60 
apcpelpvace   I.  12 
a!p.(peydvvvTO  1.  62 
dpcpefeev  6.  1 04 
dp.<piKeKao~TO    10.  1 79 
dp.cpeK.Xa.o'e  8.  345 
dp.(piKvo-as  7.  328 
ap<pip.ep.r)Xe  $.  190 
apcpipayevTOS   I.  39 
dp.cpeo'Tevev  5.  646 

dp.CptTeTVKTO    5'    14 

dvrje^rjo-e   I.  460 
dvrje^rivTO   14.  198 
dveTrXrjppvpe   14.  635 
dvacrKaipeaKe  8.  32 1 
avarpufbuo'i   13.  107 
ai'ivfot'Tes   II.  177 
aTratW/xevot   I.  693 
d-rapepo-ri    1.  263 
a7raxXvo'a»'TOS  !■  79 
5ie|wt|ei'   13.  41 
eytclvvTai   13.  245 
eicrav6povo-LV  2.  658 
evr)XiTev  14.  436 


evatderai   1 1.  94 
iveaTeivovTO  9.  179 
iveTeipero   I.  671 
i£op6dvve   I.  652 
iwe^paxev  2.  495 
eird^avev  6.  38 
e7rt(ca7xaX6wv   1.  643 
ewiKlvvTai   12.  145 
e-Tip.ep.(3XeTat.  3.  123 
iwi-rafiXdfovTa,   II.  229 
e-rnropaiJveo'Kev  7.  712 
l-recrdeve  4.  567 
^7rtcrTej'ax^f'eTai  7.  532 
^7rtcrTej'dxtf'e   1 4.  489 
eTri.xpep.dTi$ov  8.  57 
ei/n-vetoi'Tes  3.  714 
KariKpv<pev  2.  478 
/caTTj/xaXSi/pe  14.  74 
KaTewp-qdovTO   1 3.  436 
KarovTapivr/i   14.  318 
-rapayvapdivra.   II.  372 
Tca.pKaTe'dcvf'a.v   I.  804 
irapiKvpaev   II.  423 
-rapeo-avpevoicn  1.  299 
7rapoieox6et  4.  279 
-rapvirvbuivTa.   10.  1 28 
-repi8dp.va.To   I.  1 65 
-repiSripidiovTa,  6.  287 
-repiK.Xove'ovo-i  2.  649 
-repiKXove'ovTO  3.  707 
-repiKTV-reovffi  2.  348 
-repipappalpeffKe  5.  1 14 
-reptp-vperai  12.  489 
-repLTraKpacraovTes   13.  72 
7re/>i7rdXXeTO   10.  37 1 
-TepnrXaTdyr]o-e  J.  500 
wepipptyr)  8-  332 

•7T€/3t(TT6J'dxOV(7l     12.   43O 

-repicTTovdx'rj0'6  3-  397 
-repiTapxvo-avTO   "J.  157 
irepiTeTpiyvia.  12.  431 
irepiTpvfovcri   14.  36 

-repiTpo}x&o~i  7 '•  459 
-repMpplKacriv  3.  184 
wpodXoLTO  4.  510 
Trpocrayvvpevris  3.  510 
-rpoo-eo-avpivt\  8.  166 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED  TO    HOMER  2*] 

quintus  — continued. 

vvviSpai-e  13.  185  virtptp\v<Tev  5.  324  {nroicdinre<re   I.  588 

vvvtirpade  4.  451  virep^Xaffev   II.  330  vireKlvvro  3.  36 

v\a.KTi6ui>Tes  2.  375  iiwepovT-rjOivra  5.  289  VTreir\a.T&yr]<Te  3.  178 

vtttixXvvOt]   I.  67  virepitrcrvTai  2.  183  yTTOTrX^ifas 


4.  229 
inreKirepShxriv  5.  246  vwooepK6p.evos  3.  252  inroir\i£as   ) 

vireKTrpox^ovTai   13.  57  inrepdriwdtvTos  2.  260  VTroirTd)<T<TOV<ra  5.  368 

inreKreXteiv   I.  204  vn-o/cd/3/3aXe   10.  484  inro<rfj.apdyrio-e  2.  546 

In  making  the  foregoing  lists  I  have  used  Liddell  and  Scott's  Greek 
Lexicon,  seventh  edition,  and  corrected  my  results  by  reference  to 
Stephanus.  A  number  of  words  have  been  sought  in  vain  in  both 
lexicons.  These  are  ap.({>eipv<r(re,  ap.<f>eKeKa<TTO,  KarrjfidXBvve,  TrapKare6ai{/av, 
vTrepSrjwOcvTas,  v-rrepovTrjOevra.  It  is  believed  that  the  lists  are  practically 
complete.  It  is  possible  that  there  have  been  a  few  omissions.  In  an 
instance  or  two  a  word  has  been  placed  doubtfully,  but  in  general  the 
lexicons  have  rendered  the  task  of  classifying  easy. 

A  few  words  may  be  added  as  to  the  significance  of  Ouintus's 
vocabulary. 

1.  Quintus  must  have  read  very  widely.1  It  is  not  claimed  that  he 
had  read  the  work  in  which  any  particular  word  first  occurs.  In  fact,  in 
looking  over  the  lexicons  one  is  struck  with  the  number  of  instances 
in  which  he  uses  words  used  by  the  poets  of  the  second  and  third  cen- 
turies of  our  era.  But  the  truth  still  stands  that  his  vocabulary  is  culled 
from  the  whole  field  of  Greek  poetical  literature  from  Homer  until  his 
day.  The  technical  terms  of  Aratus  are  found  side  by  side  with  the 
compounds  of  Hesiod. 

2.  What  of  the  long  list  of  compounds  not  accredited  to  any  author 
before  Quintus?  Let  us  observe  that  they  are  words  suited,  not  for 
the  metres  of  drama,  much  less  for  simple  prose,  but  for  hexameter 
verse  alone.  This  will  go  far  toward  accounting  for  their  being  found 
nowhere  else  in  extant  literature.  While  a  few  of  them  may  be  the 
invention  of  Quintus,  it  is  probable  that  he  found  the  greater  number 
in  older  authors,  not  now  extant;  most  likely  in  the  Cyclic  poets,  whose 
works  I  believe  Ouintus  had  read.2 

III.       VARIATIONS    IN    MEANING    AND    USE    OF    HOMERIC    WORDS. 

Quintus  in  general  adheres  very  closely  to  the  Homeric  meaning 
of  the  words  he  uses,  but  he  has  not  altogether  escaped  the  influence 
of  the  regular  historical  development  of  the  language. 

'Glover,  Life  and  Letters,  etc.,  pp.  85,  86,  seems  wrong  in  asserting:  "His  education  was 
Homer  and  little  else." 

2  See  infra,  chapter  on  "  Sources." 


28  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

Nouns. —  Some  substantives  show  variations  from  Homeric  signifi- 
cation and  use:  afiTrvKas,  4.  511,  "bridles;"  dvao-o-av,  5.  524,  etc., 
"mistress,  wife;"  [iiXep,vov,  3.  61,  singular;  ycveidcri,  6.  200,  "jaws" 
(Eurip.);U/3w,  1.  184,  "temple"  (Hdt.);  Kaprjvov,  13.  343,  sing.;  KinreAAois, 
4.  139,  "mixing-bowls,"  6.  345,  "milk  vessels;"  Xa!.<p€cnv,  8.  362,  "sails" 
(Alcseus) ;  A^u-iSes,  3.  544,  "women  captives"  (^Esch.);  Xvao-av,  5.  360, 
"madness"  (in  Horn,  "martial  rage");  oirwTrai,  9.  374,  "eyes"  (Ap. 
Rh.);  6-n-wpr],  10.  114,  "fruit"  (Soph.);  <£dAayyes,  12.430,  "rollers" 
(Ap.  Rh.).  ' 

Adjectives. — The  following  adjectives  are  used  as  substantives: 
OrjXvTepycriv,  I.  474;  /xaKapc;,  passim,  for  the  "blessed  gods;"  p.€p6rr€craLV, 

1.  754,  etc.  (y£sch.);  7rpo^A^Tcs,  10.  175  (Soph.) ;  xe^H-aPP0V>  7-  547  (Plat.). 
A  change  of  meaning  is  seen  in  tVi/pai-os  (*Epis),  4.  195 — an  emenda- 
tion;  Xoifirjros,  1.  749,  "insulting"  (Soph.);  7r0X.vKp.-QTw,  7.  20,  424,  etc., 
"laborious;"  ravaos,  1.  681  of  the  air,  12.  58  of  the  voice.  Here  also 
we  may  note  lyioeis,  irpo6iXvp.vo<i,  aviaycoi,  of  which  the  meanings  in  Homer 
are  doubtful.  Quintus  uses  the  first  twice — j)i6tvTa  JI6.vopp.ov,  1.  283; 
T)Lotv  ttzMov,  5.  299 — but  not  in  a  way  to  fix  its  meaning.  The  second  also 
occurs  twice — xatTas  •  •  •  •  Trpo6eXvp.vovs,  3.  411,  and  kivtjo-y]  7rpo9iXvp.vov 
dA6s  fivOov,  6.  331  —  but  in  both  the  author  is  noncommittal.  How- 
ever, avtaxpi,  13.  70,  must  mean,  as  L.  and  S.,  "without  outcry" — a 
meaning  which  some  would  deny  to  it  in  N.  41. 

Quintus  has  also  used  as  adverbs  many  neuter  adjectives  not  so  used 
in  Homer.  These  are  dAeyeivov,  dAiacrrov,  dp,iyapTov,  ap.<p<a,  dirtipiTOV, 
dpyaXea,  ao~TTtTa,  fiadv,  Sitjvckcs,  ipartLvd,  Kpanrvov,  Kparepd,  Xafipd,  p.ovvov, 
oiKTpov,  iravpov,  7re\u)piov,  ap.epBvd,  and  perhaps  others.  Phrases  such  as 
dp-tyaprov  divrtav,  3.  640,  and  ■irepiTpop.iu  fiadv  yaXa,  2.  232,  are  SO  fre- 
quent as  to  form  a  marked  peculiarity  of  style. 

Pronouns. — "Atc  =  conjunctive  adverb,  2.  217,  298,  etc.  In  Homer 
=  qualia  (Niemeyer). 

Adverbs. — Very  frequent  in  Quintus  is  the  use  of  adverbs  governing 
the  genitive,  in  some  instances  going  beyond  true  Homeric  analogy. 
'Airovoo-cpi  is  used  with  verbs  of  motion  :  vrjCtv  dirov6o-<pL  (pificcrdai,  7.  494; 
X«pwv  aTTovoarfa  ySaAdvres,  12.  573;  cf.  13.  196.  The  genitive  is  found 
also  with  diroTrpoOcv,  I.  414  (Archil.);  aTroirpoOi,  12.  204,  14.  389  —  a 
use  not  noted  in  L.  and  S.;  perhaps  diroTrpoOt  should  be  read;  d^or^Ae, 
d7roTrj\60i,  5.  540  (Ap.  Rh.);  Inroad*  after  a  verb  of  motion:  poXiov 
tKTOo-de  p.eXd0p<Dv,  1 4.  480;   SO  evros  :  xpoos  Ivtos  eXdao-ai,  2.  461  ;   Karavriov, 

2.  82  ;  Ka.Teva.VTa,  3.  69,  77,  444  ;  Karavrta,  2.  309  ;  Ka6\mep6e  with  verb  of 
motion:   TrvpKa'ifjs  KaOvnepOe  fidXov,  4.  4;   SO  iripav  :  ttjv   ....   iripav  Oiaav 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  2Q. 

'EWrjairovTov,  14.  353;  Kpv^Srjv,  14.  384  (Pind.).  "Onus  is  used  as  ws 
to  introduce  a  simile,  9.  235,  316. 

There  is  an  interesting  development  of  the  use  of  6/aws.  The  fol- 
lowing examples  show  Homeric  uses:  iravTas  6p.u>s,  12.  211;  poi£ov  opws 

KCU    SoVTTOV,    I.    251;    7T€V#OS   6/AWS   CTapW   KM    aVaKTl,    I O.    463.        Next    We     find 

it  in  the  sense  of  "together  with,"  as  perhaps  in  Theognis,  252;  e.  g., 
KttcrOai  6/xcos   KTapeVois  eVapifyuos,    2.  306  ;  vy)TT  Labour  iv   ofiws   In   Kovpifcovra, 

4.  432.  Finally,  followed  by  the  dative,  it  is  used  as  a  copula  to  connect 
two  substantives;  e.g.,  evrca  ....  avrw  6/iws  'A^iA^i,  5.  222;  8/j.wes 
6p.a)s  irapoHTi,  7.  36;  6p,u>s  Kvariv  dypoiwTcu,  7.  506  :  Tpcoas  6/x.uis  AvKioicrt, 
3.  270.     For  other  examples  see  1.619,  697,  787,  808,  2.  349,  3.  270, 

5.  286,  6.  97,  7.  36,  347,  506,  539,  8.  398,  9.  26,  33,  435,  11.  204, 
12.  57,  198,  13.  2,  95,  456,  14.  33>  IJ8,  245,  619.  The  list  is  not 
complete.  This  use  of  6/aws  does  not  seem  to  have  been  noted  by  the 
lexicons. 

Me'xpis  and  axpLS  show  some  un-Homeric  usages.  Each  is  used 
adverbially  before  a  preposition:  /*€;(pis  enl  TrroXieOpov,  3.  25;  axpis  C7r* 
w/aovs,  1.  261;  and  with  the  infinitive  after  the  analogy  of  Trptv:  ^expt? 
rjQ>  Stav  LKearOai,  1.  830;  ax/ns  iKtcrOat.  ocrriov,  4.  361.  The  latter  use  has 
been  noted  by  the  editors,  but  not  by  L.  and  S. 

Pronouns  {possessive).- — 'Eos  has  the  general  meaning  of  "own," 
and  is  used  of  all  persons  and  numbers.  It  means  "their"  in  1.  349, 
etc.;  "your"  in  1.  468,  etc.;  "our"  in  2.  28,  etc.;  "thy"  in  7.  294; 
and  "my"  in  8.  440.  On  the  other  hand,  o-cpos  is  used  in  the  sense  of 
"his,"  "her,"  9.  526,  etc.;  so  o-^>eVepos,  4.  454,  etc.  Once  o-^erepos  means 
"thy,"  2.  90.  The  above  uses  are  found  also  in  the  Alexandrine 
poets.  Perhaps  it  is  due  to  Latin  influence  that  we  find  possessives 
used  absolutely  in  two  cases:  €7ret  #ep.is  dvSpacriv  avr-q  otcrtv  ap.vvip.tvai  — 
olcrtv  =  suis,  6.450,  and  ■qp.tTepoi';,  2.  48. 

Verbs. — Along  several  lines  Quintus  departs  from  Homer  in  his 
use  of  verbs.  Change  of  meaning  is  seen  in  avTeWycnv,  1.  148,  4.  555 
intransitive  (Hdt.);  Ovp,bv  voa-cptaaT  i<  juieAtW,  4.  159,  10.  79,  etc., 
"caused  to  depart;"  cuSot  irop<pvpovaa  iraprjiov,  14.  47,  "grow  purple;" 
auTt'o)  of  din  of  arms,  as  noted  by  editors.  "0<f>e\ov,  as  noted  by  editors, 
has  lost  its  verbal  force  and  is  used  in  the  sense  of  utinam  with  past 
tenses  of  the  indicative — a  use  common  in  late  Greek.  There  are  one 
or  two  instances  of  o<£etAa>  used  personally ;  e.  g.,  ws  p.rj  uxpaXes  iKeaOai, 
5.  194.    "Aye,  6.  447,  is  used  adverbially. 

Iteratives  are  very  frequent.  With  the  exception  of  ct7rco-K£v,  all  are 
formed  on  the  present  stem.     Only  occasionally  do  they  have  the  true 


30  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

iterative  force;  most  often  they  denote  simple  past  occurrence.  Many- 
are  found  which  do  not  occur  in  Homer. 

Voice  :  Homeric  verbs  are  found  in  a  different  voice  without  change 
of  meaning.  Instead  of  Homeric  middles,  we  have  the  actives  tckt?/- 
vcu/tcs,  12.  28,  81  (Ap.  Rh.);  TeKfjLrjpare,  12.  221  (Aratus).  The  parti- 
ciple 7r£7rA77yores,  5.  91,  is  used  in  a  passive  sense,  as  in  Plutarch  and 
the  LXX.  Middles  in  place  of  Homeric  actives  are  more  common  : 
ivcTrpTjcrecrOai,  1.  494;  vw/A^cracr^at,  3.  439;  dASatveo-0ai,  4.  429,  9.  473, 
475  5  ei/Jerai,  12.  401  ;  and  others. 

Tenses:  It  is  common  to  find  in  Quintus  verbs  used  in  more  tenses 
than  in  Homer.  From  Io.ttt<i)  Homer  has  only  10171-7-77(5),  whereas  Quintus 
has  lanf/et,  3.  455;  and  laij/e,  1.  9.  So  from  the  Homeric  present  Trayyoa) 
Quintus  has  iraxvoiOrj.  Instances  might  be  multiplied.  In  some  cases 
the  narrowness  of  Homeric  usage  seems  accidental. 

IV.       DIALECTICAL   VARIATIONS    FROM    HOMER. 

The  dialect  of  Quintus  is  a  very  close  approximation  to  the 
Homeric.  He  seems  to  have  guarded  himself  against  many  of  the 
extravagances  of  the  later  epics,  and  in  dialectical  forms  as  in  every- 
thing else  faithfully  to  have  imitated  Homer.  Still  by  showing  a 
number  of  un-Homeric  forms1  he  illustrates  the  fact  that  no  mere  imi- 
tator can  maintain  the  purity  of  a  foreign  dialect. 

Nouns  {substantives  and  adjectives). —  First  declension:  Quintus 
writes  'Ep/xetV/?,  10.  189;  'Epfxei-qv,  3.  699;  #er)s,  12.  378;  Oerjv,  5.  563, 
etc.;  whereas  Homer  has  a  in  these  words.  Quintus  has  also  0ed,  5.  3, 
etc.  In  the  dative  plural  Zimmermann's  edition  gives  the  following 
forms  in  -ats:  7ra<rais,  I.  50;  4.  181;  eoucrats,  I.  51;  apoupats,  I.  69;  avpats, 
I.  253  ;  Opais,  2.  658  ;  /3a#etats,  3.  409  ;  de'AAats,  4.  552  ;  peAto-crats,  11. 
147;  de'AAats,  12.  163;  T|oa7re£ais,  13.  146;  Motpais,  13.  559;  yoiuo-ais,  14. 
397  ;  7rpwpats,  14.  416  ;  [ivuus  ovtl8lvyJ(xlv,  3.  264  ;  and  perhaps  one  or  two 
more.  The  last  should  perhaps  be  written  putdtcr'.  All  of  the  others 
come  at  the  end  of  the  line  and  are  followed  by  a  line  beginning  with 
a  vowel.  So  it  seems  probable  that  Quintus  sought  to  avoid  forms  in 
-ats.  Forms  in  -77s  are  much  more  numerous.  Many  are  followed  by 
words  beginning  with  a  vowel,  many  close  the  line,  but  many  also 
precede  a  word  in  the  same  line  beginning  with  a  consonant. 

Second  declension  :  In  the  dative  plural  forms  in  -oio-i  are  more 
common,  but  forms  in  -ots  are  very  frequent.2    'ApiSr/Aos  for  Homeric 

1  In  determining  what  is  or  what  is  not  Homeric,  I  have  followed  for  the  most  part  Van  Leeuwen, 
Enchiridium  Dictionis  Epicae. 

2  Dative  plurals  in  -ais  and  -01s  are  usually  denied  to  Homer.  But  they  were  introduced  into  epic 
diction  very  early.  Hesiod  has  forms  in  -;js  and  -ais  (Kuhner-Blass,  Gr.,  p.  377).  Some  claim  that 
forms  in  -ois  are  Homeric  (Kuhner-Blass,  p.  396).  At  least  they  were  in  use  by  the  time  of  Sappho 
and  Alcman. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  3 1 

dpt'^Aos  is  uniformly  written.  'Ap<£<u  is  used  for  the  genitive  and 
dative,  2.  460.  The  quantity  of  the  first  vowel  of  Zoos  varies.  It  is 
tcros  eight  times  (Niem.). 

Third  declension  :  Variations  of  stems  affecting  quantity  are 
found  in  Kep-pas,  6.  140,  etc.,  for  Homeric  xepas;  ydva.,  1.  323  and  fre- 
quently, for  Homeric  rjiova,  also  in  Ouintus  ;  eiapos,  4.  429,  etc.,  for 
Homeric  capos;  AlBovfjos,  3.  15,  for  Homeric  Ai'Sau^os ;  aAet^a,  14.  265, 
metri  gratia.     So  also  Ivrpiypv,  12.  143. 

In  inflectional  forms  we  find  Kepaaros,  6.  238 ;  repdara,  5.  43,  where 
the  long  a  is  supported  only  by  doubtful  Homeric  analogy,1  though  it 
is  common  enough  in  Apollonius  Rhodius.  'Ovetpat,  12,  109,  for 
oWpw.  Already  noted  by  the  editors  are  the  accusatives  6i£va,  2.  88  ; 
vqSva,  1.  616;  6<f>pva,  4.  361;  l£va,  11.  20 1,  for  Homeric  forms  in  v.  In 
the  nominative  and  accusative  plural  Quintus  has  vlrjts,  2.  539  ;  vlf}a<;, 
13.  216  (Ap.  Rh.) ;  x£'/°€S>  IO-  2°3;  Xe'/°as>  II-  2Sr — Homer  uses  only 
Xept'and  x6/00"'"  with  short  stem  (L.  and  S.).  Contracted  neuter  plurals, 
as  Tevxr),  are  common.  Quintus  seems  alone  in  writing  7roAe'a,  1.  74, 
for  TToXXd.  In  the  dative  plural  we  find  x*P€(ra'L{v)  (Hesiod)  very  fre- 
quent; xetP£°'tJ  3-  323  and  frequently;  vytcriv,  8.  362,  etc.;  also  nyecro-i, 
7.  373  ;  7rat8ecrtv,  13.  306  ;  Oivecri,  7.  413  ;  TpaWi,  12.  49,  V.  I.  Two  nouns 
in  -evs  have  dative  plurals  in  -rjeo-cn:  LTnrr}e.(T(nv,  3.  695;  apicm;eo-<nv,  13. 
52;  but  this  is  sanctioned  by  Homer.  Two  stems  in  -ar  have  the 
dative  plural  in  -eo-crt:  aTop.dTe.aaL,  6.  126a/  Sopdreaatv,  6.  363  —  forms 
not  paralleled  in  Homer.2  In  stems  in  -ea  Quintus  made  the  dative 
plural  in  -«ri,  -eo-crt,  or  eeo-01,  as  suited  the  requirements  of  his  metre; 
e.  g.,  Svcrp.evecri,  8vap.eveeaai,  rei'xeoi,  Tet'x60"0"1?  etc. 

Pronouns  {personal). —  Ouintus  has  nearly  all  forms  found  in 
Homer,  but  none  irregular,  except  that  ot,  as  already  noted,  is  used  as 
a  genitive  as  well  as  a  dative.  The  dual  vdiv  is  used  as  a  plural ;  e.  g., 
abv  dpdaos  TJryaye  vuhv  (the  Trojans)  oi£wx,  2.  88;  cf.  5.  425,  429^,  6. 
444,  7.  428,  8.  452,3  etc.  So  in  the  substantive  iro&ouv,  9.  79. 
Relative  oris,  5.  159. 

Adverbs. — 'IA^So'v  and  the  Homeric  iXaSoV  both  appear.  The  Attic 
■n-epav  and  averts  are  written  instead  of  the  Homeric  7repr)v  and  awns. 
LTdAi  (late)  for  -n-dXiv  sometimes  occurs. 

Verbs. —  Present  system:  Variations  in  stems  affecting  quantity 
are   found   in   x€^et>  *■  3OI>  etc.;    KaTaytvtTaL,  4.  245  (Ap.  Rh.)  ;    dp7rveie, 

1 "  Nihil  certi  affirmare  ausirn  de  xpaaTi  \  ZI8,  et  Kpaara  T  93." — Schulze,  Quaes/.  Epic,  p.  216. 

2  Forms  in  -ea-<ri  were  used  in  Boeotian,  Thessalian,  and  Lesbian.  Sappho,  2.  11,  has  o7T7r<xTecr<ri. — 
Kuhner-Blass,  Gr.,  I,  417. 

■5  This  use  of  the  dual  is  a  late  development,  appearing  in  Oppian  and  Orpheus.  Cf.  Cyn.,  I,  72, 
145,  etc.    See  Kuhner-Blass,  Gr. 


32  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

i.  599,  etc.;  tKpvtpe  (late),  i.  393.  ILtptaxe,  2.  605,  is  falsely  contracted 
(Tychsen).  iYverai,  1.  474,  etc.,  and  yivero,  3.  716  (Hdt),  are  found 
instead  of  the  longer  forms.  SvAeov,  1.  717,  2.  547,  has  the  license  of 
Homeric  usage  in  other  words — e.g.,  o/xokXeov — but  only  forms  from 
crvXdo)  occur  in  Homer.  The  aspirated  form  ap-faxw,  5-  106,  is  used 
for  the  Homeric  ayu,7re;(€v.  'EeiSero,  1.  153,  and  ia.Bop.ivrjv,  5.  119,  8.  197, 
do  not  appear  until  Theocritus.  There  is  no  contraction  in  the  aug- 
ment of  avoiCyvwTo,  12.  511.  'Opdare,  1.  420,  should  perhaps  be  written 
opdacrOe  (Piatt).  MeSe'ovcri  (indicative),  5.  525,  arises  from  an  assumed 
present  for  the  participle  /xcSeW.  Aa/nowo-i,  5.  247,  and  Sa/AowvTai,  5. 
249,  are  due  perhaps  to  a  misunderstanding  of  Sa/xoWi,  //.,  7,  368. 
Similarly,  aXdXicovcnv,  7.  267,  seems  to  assume  that  the  Homeric  aAaA/<e 
is  an  imperfect.  Ap.  Rh.  has  a  future  dXaXurjcrovo-iv.  We  find  also  the 
imperfects  eSei'Siov,  5.  282  ;  eSei'Sie,  10.  450,  from  an  assumed  present  for 
the  perfect  Se'Stc.  Ai£ovto,  4.  16,  etc.  (Theocr.),  is  used  as  a  middle  of 
the  Homeric  hi^qpi. 

Aorists  :  Arja-dixrjvo?,  3.  98,  does  not  appear  until  Moschus.  Edi- 
tors write  /S^craro,  Suo-aro,  etc.,  instead  of  Homeric  /S^o-cto,  Sixrero,  etc. 

Perfects  :  'Aprjpep-evoi,  7.  348,  etc.,  is  not  in  Homer.  The  use  of 
the  passive  pluperfect  third  plural  is  almost  exclusively  confined  to 
vowel  verbs,  and  ends  in  -yjvto,  as  fiefioXrjvTo,  2.  585;  whereas  Homer 
writes  fiefioXyaTO.  See  also  TreireSrjvro,  13.  116;  eTTTOirjVTO,  II.  48; 
dirrjwprjVTo,  1 4.   376. 

V.       PHRASES,    TAGS,    CLAUSULA. 

We  have  seen  how  large  a  part  of  his  vocabulary  Quintus  borrows 
from  Homer,  and  how  closely  he  keeps  to  the  Homeric  dialect.  We 
shall  next  see  how  diligently  he  has  sought  to  impart  to  his  poem  as 
Homeric  a  flavor  as  possible  by  working  into  it  a  great  number  of 
Homeric  phrases. 

In  beginning  his  sentences,  he  uses  Homeric  introductions,  as 
follows : 

dXX'  6re  5-q  4.  74,  etc.  dXX'  tri  fiaWov  9.  230  St)  yap  4.  421,  etc. 

dXX'  dye  8j  3.  522,  etc.  tiWore  fiiv  —  AXXore  5'  aire    el  fiev  5i}  2.  43,  etc. 

dXXd  ko.1  (5s  3.  186,  etc.  I.  337,  etc.  et  irov  1.  339,  etc. 

dXX'  oil  n&v  3.  118,  etc.  avrhp  iirei   1.  493,  etc.  eis  6  Ke(v)  2.  74,  etc. 

dXX'  ovS'  tDs  7.  503,  etc.  aiirap  eVetra  2.  135  el  84  p.01  2.  328 

dXX'  oi  p.4v  1.  781,  etc.  avrap  ol  &\\ot  2.  73  et  irov  en  5.  518,  etc. 

d\\d  iron  2.  30  avrlKa.  yap  7.  283  el  ire6v  3.  190,  etc. 

dXX1  &ye  vvv  2.  72  8tj  t6tc  i.  121  e?  34  nev  3.  454,  etc. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER 


33 


el  8'  dye  5-?J  9.  537 

el  /j.7]  ftp'   8.  429 
ko.1  vv  K€  I.  689,  etc. 
Kal  v6  <ce  5i}  2.  507,  etc. 
Kal  rbre  St)  2.  368,  etc. 
icai  rbr"1  dp'  4.  110,  etc. 
Kal  ra  fiiv  9.  30,  etc. 
IxrjK^Ti  vvv  12.  51,  etc. 
vvv  fj.ev  8r\  5.  123,  etc. 
vvv  5'  ijSii  5-  200 
vvv  Se  (rv  ixiv  2.  325 
ov  ydp  roi  1.  1 01 
ol  5'  8re  8$  I.  120,  etc. 
os  pa  1.  231,  etc. 


ovS1  dpa  1.  271,  etc. 

ov  ydp  irus   I.  314 

ov  ydp  iru  ri(s)   1.  327,  etc. 

o'l  pa  Kal   1.  503,  etc. 

01/  ydp  Srf  1.  566,  etc. 

ov8e  yap  ovSt  1.  585,  etc. 

otfdV  vti  <roi  1.  731 

ov  ydp  <r<piv  1.  806,  etc. 

ov  yap  en  2.  24,  etc. 

olivet  dpa  2.  252,  etc. 

ov  /xev  ydp  2.  321,  etc. 

owe  dv  roi  2.  329 

ov  yap  epalye  3.  465,  etc. 


ovSe"  ns  dXXos  4.  123,  etc. 
8s  Kal  vvv  5.  576 
ov8e  fiev  ovSt  7.  526,  etc. 
ol  8e  Kal  ax/rot.  11.  6,  etc. 
ov  ydp  eyuye  13.  227 
ru  vvv  jj.-f)   12.  19,  etc. 
us  dpa  1.  177,  etc. 
us  5'  8re  1 .  440,  etc. 
us  5'  8rav  2.  282,  etc. 
us  rbre  2.  287 
us  ydp  p.01  3.  80 
us  5'  6Ve  tis  7.  317 
<t>s  o^e  8.  385,  etc. 


In  the  following  the  Homeric  phrase  shows  an  introductory  word 
joined  to  a  verb  : 


dXXd  p-vrjeru/xtda  6.  607 
dXX'  fopjev  1.  499,  etc. 
eXirero  ydp  2.  360 
els  8  Kev  eXdy  2.  30 
7i  pa  1.  198,  etc. 
ov8i  ri  ohda   I.  734 
ov  yap  6'lu  2.  59.  etc. 


ov8i  ri  rjSrj  3.  250 

oi)  7ap  e<pav{ro)  4.  473,  etc. 

oi)5'  d7r6j/77To  4.  420,  etc. 

ov8i  tis  erX?;  4.  482 

<ri)j'  5'  efiaXov  4,  349,  etc. 

toO  5'  e/cXve  9.  23 

(palrjs  Kev  2.  565 


As  0dro  1.  475,  etc. 

us  dp'  e"<pr)  1.  373,  etc. 

us  eliruv  1.  654,  etc. 

us  ((par1    1.  766 

us  8<pe\ov  2.  323,  etc. 

us  <pd/xevov-(ov-T]i)  2. 623,  etc. 

us  TDridcove  5.  359,  etc. 


In  speeches  we  frequently  find  such  Homeric  phrases  as : 


a  8ei\ol  3.  167,  etc. 
K\vre  (pl\oi  9.  275,  etc. 
Zev  irdrep  4.  49,  etc. 
Xat/)^  /not  u  7.  642 
X<x?pe  irdrep  9.  51 


<3  tvpcm  1.  575  etc. 
<3  7i/pat  al8olij  10.  284 
<5  <p/Xos  2.  27,  etc. 
<3  yipov  2.  309,  etc. 
<3  irbirot.  3.  57,  etc. 


(3  '08vo-ev  5.  181,  etc. 

<3  irdrep  7.  58 

<3  £eFpoi  7.  179 

(3  0tX',  ewei8-fj  9.  491 


Homeric  phrases  consisting  of  preposition  and  noun  are  frequent : 


dvd  crpdrbv  ei/ptjv  4.  16 

8i£k  peydpoio  I.  157 

iv  'OXvfMiru  2.  436 

ets  iviavrbv  2.  504 

^s  ireSlov  2.  552 

elv  'AlSao  2.  650 

els  dyop-fjv  6.  6 

eV  |vX6xo(o  6.  342 

iv(t)  p.iosoio'iv  6.  397,  etc. 

iirl  xf/ap-ddoiffi  6.  649 

^7ri  T<jp.f3u   7.  13 

ivi  Tpueo-ffiv  9.  84,  etc. 

iv  kovItjo-i  5.  408,  etc. 


ev  Kkialrjaiv  2.  3,  etc. 
evl  p.eydpoio'iv  KaB^/xevos  2. 73 
ivl  ffr-fjOeffo-iv  1.  559,  etc. 
ev  (ppeffl  8vp.6s  I.  570,  etc. 
evl  8vp.(p  1.  755,  etc. 
ev  /xeydpoiffi.  2.  150,  etc. 
ev  'ApyeLoivi  2.  21 1,  etc. 
ev  SrnorrJTt   I.  287 
eK  Ovuov  11.  295,  etc. 
e7r'  dXXTjXXTjfft   11.  361 
eV  dyKolvr/o'i  3.  470,  etc. 
eVl  vijval  #0770-1  3.  498 
/card  dvpMv  1.  115,  etc. 


acot'  dKptjs  5.  51 
/car'  da-irlda  5.  97 
Kara  tpptva  5.  662,  etc. 
7rapd  vrpialv  1.  499,  etc. 
7rep2  eppivas  2.  26 1,  etc. 
7rort  £6<pov  3.  256,  etc. 
7rpds''OXujU7roi'  3.  611,  etc. 
irorl  yalrj  7.  418 
7rp6s  dXXTjXous   14.  253 
i>7r6  xeP°~lv   I.  187,  etc. 
i>7rd  iroo~o~lv  1.  686 

Many  others  might  be 
added. 


34 


A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 


Homeric  phrases  consisting  of  noun   an 
usually  occupying  the  same  position   in  the 
more  common  are : 


&\KI[JL01>  TjTOp     I.    4O9 

&<rireros  v\tj  2.  476 
d/j.^po<Tlr]  W?{  2.  625 
alp.a  KeXaivbv  3.  140,  etc. 
anri)  TTTo\te$pov  3.  545 
dpyvpoiri^a  Qiris  4.  172 
dyXaa  riKva  4.  266 
a'i/xari  7roXXy  5.  27,  etc. 
anra  piedpa  5.  453,  etc. 
dprjlcpikov  MevAaoe  6.  40 
CLKa.iJ.aTbv  irvp   II.  94 
&\yea  iroXXd   12.  228,  etc. 
alwiis  6\e6pos  13.  452,  etc. 
j3ovk6\os  avf]p  10.  370 
yaia  p.£\aiva  2.  625,  etc. 
divdpea  p.aKpd   1.  489,  etc. 
Aids  p.eyd\oio  1.  502,  etc. 
daidaXa  7roXXd  6.  1 98 
5?oj  'OSvcrcrefa  7.  182 
boipara  fiaKpd  8.  1 35 
fvrea.  Ka\d   1.  223,  etc. 
evrea  p.app,alpovra   I.  5 10 


10 


■tjfiara  wdvra.  I.  1 14,  etc 
i'lp.ari  TLpSe   I.  186,  etc. 
rjp.ari  Kelvqi   1.  203,  etc. 
7777-40  (pdpfiaKa  6.  420 
0epp.d  \oerpd   II.  320 
Qtnv    dpyvpoirtfav    3 

etc. 
0ed  9Ms  5.  3,  etc. 
iepdv  yix^pos  3.  700,  etc. 
iwttovs  toKuiroSas   4.  531 
IXiov  iprjv  6.  551 
Kip.ara  fiaKpd   14.  537,  etc 
/caXd  irpbiTWTra   I.  660 
/co/ca  7roX\<£  1.  192,  etc. 
Kbpvdas  /3/napds   I.  225 
/ca\6v  fiXeicroi'  4.  542 
/cXi/rd  5wpa  7.  598 
Ka\d  ph&pa   11.  21 
\divov  oCSas  10.  137 
/U^yas  otipavos   1.  67,  etc. 
piTjKddes  alyes   I.  479 
p.aKpbv" 0\vfj.irov  3.  90 
/u^7a  XaiTfia  3.  102,  etc. 


ei)p^a  irovrov  4.  553,  etc. 

ivKrifxevov  irro\iedpov  9.  5 1 1    /i^ya  ipyov  4.  526 

ei)p<?as  idol's  13-  533 


d  epithet  are  numerous, 
line  as  in   Homer.     The 

p.bpo~ip.ov  fjp.ap   10.  151 
vbtrripav  fjp.ap  1.  609 
v-^iria  riKva  5.  493,  etc. 
vrjl  p.e\alvjj  6.  65 
oipavov  evptiv  1.  37 
I,    dfiV  8.K0VT0.   1.  338 

'Odvtrffrja  5at<ppova   11.358 
iriova  firjXa    I.  524 
wlova  8r]fj.6v  I.  798 
worap.bs  (3adv5[v7]s  2.  345 
irvp  dldrj'Kov  2.  58,  etc. 
irvpbs  al6op.ivoio  5.  381,  etc. 
irdvdos  tXhaarov  5.  534,  etc. 
iroXiiv  xpbvov  6,  426,  etc. 
iro\ip.oio  dvtrrixeos  9.  278 
vrparbv  evpvv  3.  494,  etc. 
zZap-n-qbbva  dtov  4.  290 
airbyyoiai    iroXvTprjTOMri,    4. 

374 
rei^xea  Ka\d  1.  512,  etc. 
TpwcW  <t>i\owTo\ep.oi<Ti  8.  240 
ufc  Kpa.ra.11J3  6.  502>  5 !  ^ 
<pal5i[xos  Afas  3.  431 
Xpvffeoiffi  KVTreWois  14.  333 


The  following,  as  in 

dp.<pl  di  Xao/  2.  213,  etc. 
dp.<pl  5'  dp'  aiVrcp  2.  295,  etc. 
t'5'  (Horn.  ^5')  SXXot  irdvres 

eraTpoi  2.  343 
dXXore  5'  aCre  2.  463 
dXX'  &p.a  Trdvres  3.  168,  etc. 
dXXd  Kai  avrol  2.  630,  etc. 
dX7eo  irdo~x*lv  3-  1 1 5,  etc. 
<£X7ea  \vypd  12.  291 
avrdp  ol  dXXoi  2.  73 
dXXvSis  tfXXov  1.  379,  etc. 
dp.(pl  5'  (Spa  ff<pi  3.  588,  etc. 
dxvvp-cvol  wep  4.  65 
dvepubXia  /3dftts  4.  89 
d/u<pt  5£  /cDp.a  5.  91 
dpiffros  'Axaltov  5.  125 
#X7ea  dv/xip  5.  470 


Homer,  close  the  verse 

dXXd  croi  avrip  5.  533,  etc. 
avrdp  'Kxo-Loi  6.  5,  etc. 
"Aidos  etVw  6.  429 
avrdp  iyuye  6.  23 1 
atcnp.ov  Jjev  10.  261,  etc. 
dirb  8v/j.bv  oXecrcrai   10.  288 
avrdp  '08v<r<reijs  14.  21 
'Apyeioiffiv  dp-^yeis  9.  19 
dXXoj  'Axatwv  9.  99 
dXX'  ert  p.d\\ov  9.  230 
fiapia  <rrevdxovres  2.  586 
yelvaro  p.riTr]p  5.  186 
e7ret  <p6/3os  eXXa/3e  7rd)/ras  2.  6 
iirtfXvOe  vrj5vp.os  virvos  2.  1 63, 

etc. 
iyyiidev  e\0uv  3.  73 
e5x°s  dpecrdai  3.  269,  etc. 


ei»T-ds  iepyei  3.  622 
icrdXbv  ibvra   5-  476 
iffdXbv  iratpov  8.  31 1,  etc. 
e£ox'  dpiaroi  12.  327 
&c  5'  €/3aK  a^ro/   12.  346 
e^cea  veKpuv   13.  173 
775^  Kai  avrol  2.  109,  etc. 
■^5^  Kai  ipyov  2.  77 
97^  Kal  avrol  2.  270,  etc. 
ri/xei^ero  pajdip   2.  319 
^ej"  iraTpos  3.  424 
i)5£  roK-f)b)v  3.  566 
7^0eXe  ^yp.6j  8.  400,  etc. 
rf\ao-ev  Xwttovs  8.  489 
ijiriov  elvac  9.  522,  etc. 
tf\f/aro  yovvwv  13.  185 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  35 

The  above  lists  are  not  exhaustive;  Quintus  has  wrought  one  or 
more  Homeric  phrases  into  almost  every  sentence,  and  on  an  average 
there  is  one  to  every  four  lines  of  his  work.1  Others  can  easily  be 
picked  out  by  the  reader. 

Not  only  does  Quintus  use  actual  Homeric  phrases;  he  imitates 
them.  In  this  he  was  able  to  show  some  originality,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  preserve  the  Homeric  coloring.  One  favorite  means  of 
accomplishing  this  end  was  to  use  a  word  from  a  Homeric  phrase 
followed  'by  another  word  not  from  the  same,  but  which  preserves  the 
Homeric  rhythm.  Examples  of  this  are  oftpifxov  dvSpa,  1.  8,  after  the 
Homeric  6(3pLp,o<>  "Ektoj|o;  deiKe'a  <f>qp.rjv,  I.  21,  after  det/cea  iroTfiov;  alira 
fx.i\a.6pa  after  ai7rd  pUOpa;  ovpea  p.aKpd  after  SevSpca  p.anpd.  Sometimes 
the  phrase  varies  little  in  meaning  from  the  imitated  phrase;  e.  g., 
ey^ei.'  oKpcoevTi,  I.  259,  from  «fy.  6£v6evTi;  Trvpbs  aWaXocvTOS  from  71-17365 
aldop.ivoio ;  X€LPL  Kpo-Tatr]  from  %.  fSapetrj;  "Ekto/jos  dy^e/x.d^oto,  2.  12,  from 
E.   avSpocjiovoto ;    ato^e'   c^ovtcs,    2.  40,   from    aAye'   I^ovtc?;   iv   (TTipvouTi, 

2.  69,  from  iv  o-TiijOca-a-i;  etc.  Sometimes  a  phrase  is  given  an  unex- 
pected turn,  as  ptia  <£0ivu0ovi-es,  6.  4,  from  pda  ^wovres.  Sometimes  the 
Homeric  analogy  is  extended  to  other  words,  as  dwj  7ro'Sas,  6.  223; 
600I  xe'/°a5,  11.  157.  Very  frequently  other  words  are  inserted  in  the 
Homeric  phrase;  e.g.,  ap.<j>i  in  Skcu^s  dp<f)l  irvXyo-i,  3.  82,  and  ep.p.evai 
in  (fyipTaros  e/x./xevai  avopwv.  In  still  another  class  the  reminiscence  of 
Homer  is  of  thought  rather  than  of  language  :  so  with  <piXov  irpoo-iXi^aro 
6vp.6v,  1.  99,  10.  423,  for  Homeric  e?7re  71736?  ov  p.tyaXrjTopa  6vp.6v, 
v\pi\6<$>ov  rpv(j>a\tir]s,  2.  462,  8.  189,  from  Homeric  "helmet;"  vireKXd- 
<r8r]  p.e\i(.cr<Tiv,  1.  596,  5.  458,  from  Homeric  KareKXdcrOr}  (plXov  r/rop ; 
Kvvixiv  /Socris  rj8'  olu>va)v,  from  X  354;    p-e  xVTV   Ka-Ta.  y<ua.  kckcvBu,  i.   109, 

3.  464,  7.  656,  from  Z  464;  dvb.  Kpvepov  urop-a.  )(dpp.r]<;,  I.  487,  from 
Homeric  dva  TroXip.oio  ye<pvpa<;;  yvta  Se  ol  AiVe  6vp.6s,  8.  408,  from 
Homeric  AtVe  8'  oarta.  6vp.6s ;  iirifipaxe  8'  Ivrea  vexp<S  from  Homeric 
apdf3r)<re  8e  rev^e'  *""'  olvt<S.  Add  tolov  ttotl  paiOov  ecnrev  and  eSs  (pdpcvov 
Trpocritnrev  frequently  used  with  reference  to  speakers. 

Besides,  there  is  found  in  Quintus  a  great  number  of  phrases  used 

twice  or  more  where  the  reference  to  Homer,  if  any,  is  remote.     The 

repetition  is    Homeric.     Such    are    6cu>v  iirt.up.ivq  cISo?,   1.  19,   6.  241, 

296;   ivl   <{>6c(Trj<Topi  ^d/D/u.^,  1.  97,    5.  231,    II.  19;    6rjpeaaiv   cot/cores  o)p.o- 

fiopoicri.,    I.   2  2  2,    II.  300;    K/iJpes   dp-etXixoi   d/x^t^dvcocrii/,    I.  591,     5.  611; 

rj  p-iya.  vci/ceiW,  1.  741,    2.  81;    cr^e'Sov  iXvop.ai  ttvai,  2.  37,    4.  96;   aTCi/Deos 

1  Glover,  Life  and  Letters,  etc.,  p.  91,  makes  the  surprising  statement  that  Quintus  "abjures 
Homeric 'tags.'"  Winkler,  Zu  Quintus  Smymaeus,  pp.  25  H.,  gives  a  list  of  the  longer  Homeric 
phrases  in  Quintus. 


36  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

<iv8ov  OXv/xttov,  2.  176,  424;  Xv6r]  7roXvrjpaTO<;  al(i)v,  2.  544,  10.  140; 
<paecr<p6pov  'Hpiy€V€ir]<;,  2.  186,  656;  rjocriv  'EXXtjo-itovtov,  3.  4,  391,  etc.; 
arpofiov  r)Top  c^crtv,  3.  74,  75.  Tp^eaai  p.evoiveov  eiT;(os  ope£ai,  3.  93,  135  ; 
es  'iAiou  ie/)ov  do-ru,   2.  242,  3.  216,  5.  192;  eVt'a^e  8'  'EAA^<T7rovTOS,  3.  585, 

5.  569,  14.  372;  yr}pa<;  ap.eiki.xov  dp<pip,ep.apTre,  3.  614,  12.  276;  7raAaicr- 
p,ocrvvr]<;  V7repo7rXov,  4.  215,  266  ;  Oepevs  evOaXTreos  <^prj,  4.  441;  6/aw?  'OSucttJi 
irepi<ppovi    TuSc'os    idds,    6.  97,   nearly    like    7.  347;    o-vvrjXoiiqTO    8k    ttomto., 

6.  281,  II.  472,  14.  523;  irvpbs  o-c'Aas,  7.  572,  13.  24,  166;  7TAaTU 
^ei!/i.a  6aXdo-crr)<;,  7.  311,  8.  60 ;  dv  evpax  fievOea  ttovtov,  7.  306,  8.  62; 
ivppoov  EXXr]o-7r6vTOV.  6.  289,  8.487;  Zypero  8'  'Hws,  9.  I,  67;  ovXop.ivrj 
Kvjp,  6.  427,  9.  190,  10.  449;  cs  7roXep.ov  cp6io-ip.(3poTov,  4.  433,  9.  218; 
pobv  'HpiSdvoio,  5.  628,  9.  192  ;  ovpea  p.aKpd  Kal  vXrjv,  10.  249,  cf.  3.  268; 
(ipovTal  o/xws  o-TepoTrrjcri,  12.  57,  198;  Tt  7rap^AiTov  atppahirjariv,  IO.  305, 
12.  417;  'EAAdSos  lepbv  ovSas,  13.  530,  14.  419.  Rarely  repeated  lines 
are  found  : 

Keicrb  vvv  iv  Kovlyffi  kvvwv  /36<m  ^5'  otuvwv 

—i.  644;  5-  441. 
d\\'  oi  p.tv  ■wewiOovTO  irapa.i(pacrlr)<riv  eralpuv 

—I.  781;    4.  378. 
ck  ixeXiuiv  et's  ofiSas  dwippeev  alp.a  Kal  idpws 

—2.  531;    5.  37. 
d>s  e^ar'  anpaavTov  lets  eVos  ou5^  ri  tJ/St; 

—  3-  250;  7-  522, 
ju^x/"s  £r'    AtSovijos  vwepdt/Mio  fiipedpov 

—  6.  490;  12.  179. 

For  phrases  consisting  of  a  preposition  and  a  noun  see  Koechly, 
Prolegomena,  pp.  lxviii  ff. 

Quintus's  imitation  of  Homer  further  extends  to  what  Mr.  Andrew 
Lang  calls  "runs;"  that  is,  those  stereotyped  descriptions  of  feasting, 
setting  sail,  etc.,  that  recur  in  Homer.  Quintus  imitates  the  common 
feasting  run,  1.  120  ff.;  that  on  feasting,  launching  a  ship,  and  putting 
to  sea,  6.  96;  that  on  joining  battle,  1.  220  ff.;  that  on  the  return 
voyage  of  a  ship,  7.  369  ff.  and  394  ff.;  that  on  drawing  a  bowstring, 
10.  231  ff.  Sometimes  Quintus  has  a  second  imitation  of  the  same 
"run,"  but  does  not  repeat  the  language  used  in  the  first. 

The  characters  in  Quintus,  when  identical,  are  closely  copied  after 
the  Homeric.  To  mention  a  few  of  the  many :  Thersites  is  still  an 
inveterate  railer  at  kings  and  a  good-for-nothing,  1.  722  ff.;  Diomedes 
is  fortissimus  Danaum  and  will  not  hear  of  the  abandonment  of  the 
siege,  6.  41  ff. ;  Agamemnon  is  a  brave  warrior,  feaster  of  heroes,  ready 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  37 

to  heed  Nestor  and  to  accuse  Zeus  of  falsehood  and  unfaithful  promises, 
3.  491  ff.;  Nestor  is  the  same  wordy  old  man  as  in  the  Iliad,  always 
citing  ancient  instances  of  his  prowess,  always  giving  advice,  as  can  be 
seen  everywhere  in  the  poem. 

In  at  least  two  instances  Quintus  has  written  detailed  accounts  of 
subjects  already  treated  at  some  length  in  Homer.  These  are  Achilles's 
shield  and  the  destruction  of  the  wall  of  the  Greek  camp. 

The  description  of  Achilles's  shield  (5.  6-97)  is  modeled  after  that 
in  2  478-605.  Quintus's  general  plan  seems  to  have  been  the 
same  as  Homer's;  at  least,  he  starts  with  Homer's  shield  in  mind, 
mentioning  heaven,  ether,  earth,  sea,  sun  and  moon,  rdpara  iravra  —  all 
Homeric.  But  Quintus  must  show  originality  by  variation  from  his 
model,  and  cannot  resist  a  falsely  artistic  desire  to  daub  his  picture 
with  details.  He  fills  his  air  with  birds,  his  land  with  lions,  jackals, 
bears,  leopards,  boars,  hunters  (1.  24).  Next  he  turns  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  battle  after  2  509  ff.  Taking  it  for  granted  that  the  reader 
knows  his  Homer,  he  fills  in  the  picture  with  men  trampled  by  horses, 
the  ground  wet  with  blood,  Fear,  Dread,  the  fire-breathing  Erinyes, 
the  Fates,  etc.,  which  brood  over  the  field.  The  Gorgon's  head,  too, 
according  to  Quintus  must  have  been  on  the  shield  (1.  42).  The  works 
of  peace,  the  scenes  of  town  life,  and  Justice  overseeing  all,  are  dis- 
missed with  a  few  lines  (1.  47).  Another  addition  follows  in  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  Mount  of  Virtue  (1.  56).  Next  we  have  reapers,  oxen 
drawing  wagons  and  turning  the  soil,  harps  and  dancing  and  banquet- 
ing, the  Nereids  and  the  marriage  of  Peleus  and  Thetis,  a  storm-tossed 
ship,  and  Poseidon  driving  his  chariot  across  the  sea.  We  are  assured 
that  there  were  countless  other  things  on  the  shield.  Thus  it  becomes 
a  gorgeous  thing,  far  removed  from  the  simplicity  of  Homer,  while 
the  five  rings  are  seemingly  disregarded,  and  all  things  are  mixed  — 
KtKpifiiv  aAAuSis  aAAa  (1.  9),  the  Homeric  shield  may  still  be  seen 
beneath  it  all. 

The  description  of  the  destruction  of  the  Greek  wall  is  found  at  the 
end  of  the  poem.  It  is  rather  prolix,  but  in  main  outline  and  in  many 
of  its  details  is  copied  from  M  1-33.  This  is  much  nearer  the 
Homeric  model  than  the  imitation  of  the  shield  of  Achilles. 

The  Homeric  coloring  is  also  heightened  by  frequent  reference  to 
Homeric  events.  Quintus  begins  his  poem  just  where  the  Iliad  leaves 
the  story  and  closes  with  a  preparation  for  the  Odyssey,  and  everywhere 
he  is  recalling  Homeric  events  and  situations.  These  references  are 
very  definite,  the  details  of  Hector's  death,  such  as  the  spear  striking 


38  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

him  beneath  the  chin,  being  given.  They  are  found  in  every  portion 
of  the  poem,  and  frequently  enough  never  to  suffer  one  to  forget  the 
Iliad.  The  more  important  are  found  in  i.  1-14,  100  ff.,  378,  550, 
580,  759,  816;  2.  10,  62,  440,  442,  447,  455;  3.  48,  80,  100,  253,  260, 
339.  420,  500,  537,  545,  610;  4.  150-160,  290,  310,  325,  585;  5.  1- 
120,  205,  215,  245,  257,  282,  314,  400,  483;  6.  90,  373;  7.  200,  242, 
443,  697;  8.  34,  126,  394;  9.  214,  491;  10.  162,  300,  387;  13.  226, 
275.  295,  364,  379;    14.  20,  48,  216,  590,  630,  635  ff. 

VI.       SIMILES. 

Quintus  like  Homer  has  adorned  his  poem  with  a  great  number  of 
similes.  According  to  Niemeyer,1  Quintus  has  two  hundred  and  nine- 
teen detailed  similes,  one  for  every  forty  lines;  whereas  in  the  Iliad 
there  is  one  only  for  every  seventy-seven  lines.  In  form  he  usually 
follows  Homer,  but  rarely  has  un-Homeric  introductions  such  as  tvre, 
cos  8'  oirorav,  are,  07rws.  The  gnomic  aorist  is  rare.  Quintus  often 
follows  Homer  also  in  the  content  of  his  similes. 

Niemeyer  has  divided  our  poet's  similes  into  three  groups  :  those 
taken  (1)  from  nature,  (2)  from  human  life,  (3)  from  myths  of  gods 
and  heroes.  Perhaps  a  better  division  would  be  :  those  fashioned  after 
some  literary  model,  and  those  made  independently.  To  the  first 
group  would  belong  all  those  which  show  traces  of  Homer — by  far  the 
larger  number;  a  few  that  imitate  Virgil;  and  perhaps  a  few  more. 
In  this  group  belong  all  similes  on  lions,  leopards,  and  wild  beasts 
generally;  perhaps  also  those  on  eagles,  for  it  is  evident  that  Quintus 
was  not  personally  familiar  with  the  incidents  of  these  similes.2  Even 
in  this  group  Quintus  has  introduced  many  details  of  his  own.  It  is 
in  these  that  we  find  striving  for  effect,  extravagance,  and  lack  of  fresh- 
ness. The  next  group,  however,  is  free  from  these  faults.  Quintus 
draws  comparisons  from  things  he  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes,  and  here 
his  excellent  powers  of  description  serve  him  well.  Such  similes  are 
those  drawn  from  a  drought  broken  by  rain,  1.62;  a  man  with  diseased 
eyes,  1.  74;  a  tower  felled  by  shock  of  earthquake,  3.  64;  bees 
driven  by  smoke,  3.  220;  the  dry  branch  of  a  tree,  4.  440;  sheep  and 
lambs,  5.  493;  geese  waiting  to  be  fed,  6.  125  ;   a  cow  lowing,  6.  240; 

1  "  Ueber  die  Gleichnisse  bei  Quintus  Smyrnaeus,"  Programm  des  Gymnasiums  zu  Zwickau, 
1883-1884.     A  comprehensive  treatise. 

2  Niemeyer,  however,  says  of  the  similes  on  wolves,  8.  268;  13.  44,  72,  258,  etc.:  "  Scheinen  sie 
ja  doch  wegen  ihrer  frischen  Lebendigkeit  und  Natiirlichkeit,  sowie  in  Anbetracht  dessen,  dass  der  Dichter 
in  seiner  Jugend  selber  die  von  jenem  so  oft  angegriffenen  Herden  gehiitet,  zum  Teil  aus  eigener 
Anschauung  hervorgegangen  zu  sein,"  ibid.,  II  Teil,  p.  4. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  39 

swarming  bees,  6.  323;  the  lowing  of  two  herds  of  cattle  on  meeting, 
6.  341;  gladiatorial  games,  6.  530;  a  horse  checked  in  a  race,  7.  315; 
children  huddled  around  father  during  thunderstorm,  7.  530;  fish 
caught  by  net,  7.  569;  snowflakes  beating  on  rock,  7.  596;  embrace 
of  father  and  home-coming  son,  7.  637;  trees  felled  pell-mell,  8.  130; 
two  racing  laborers,  8.  278;  a  child  killing  flies,  8.  331;  oxen  taking 
a  breathing  spell,  8.  369;  a  boat  guided  by  rudder,  8.  414  ;  fishermen 
in  the  Hellespont,  9.  172;  olives  knocked  from  trees  with  a  stick, 
9.  198;  a  deadened  tree,  9.  451;  a  fever  patient,  10.  277;  a  heifer  in 
heat,  10.  441;  a  flight  of  cranes  disturbed  by  man  with  sling,  11.  no; 
oxen  bit  by  gadflies,  n.  207;  ship  timbers  scattered  on  the  shore, 
11.  307;  falling  crags,  1.  696,  n.  396,  401;  launching  a  ship,  12.  428  ; 
sheep  going  to  stalls,  13.  67;  a  stalk  of  dry  corn,  13.  241;  a  shipwrecked 
sailor,  13.  309  ;  squealing  pigs,  14.  33  ;  crops  cut  by  hail,  14.  75  ;  twin- 
ing ivy,  14.  175  ;  pressed  olives,  14.  265  ;  a  howling  bitch  and  pups,  14. 
282.  These  will  all  be  found  characterized  by  vividness,  freshness,  and 
naturalness  —  charms  which  have  been  so  justly  admired  in  Quintus's 
similes.1 

In  some  respects,  however,  Quintus  is  not  Homeric.  His  similes, 
as  a  whole,  lack  the  directness  of  Homer's.  Again,  while  Quintus  has 
a  great  number  of  attendant  circumstances,  there  is  in  the  first  books 
very  little  playing  with  them.  The  following  statement,  referring  to 
Spenser,  is  equally  true  of  Quintus : 

The  particulars  of  his  similes  bear  more  directly  upon  the  action  which 
he  illustrates,  and  he  is  at  more  pains  to  point  out  that  they  do  so,  and  to 
show  the  correspondence  of  the  image  with  the  reality,  balancing,  as  it  were, 
the  one  with  the  other.2 

This  makes  him  more  artificial.  In  the  latter  books,  however,  Quintus 
seems  to  have  gained  a  freer  hand,  and  like  Homer  to  have  added 
irrelevant  detail  to  make  the  simile  itself  effective.3  Subjective  imagery 
is  even  rarer  in  Quintus  than  in  Homer;  there  is  hardly  an  instance 

*£.£.,  by  Sainte-Beuve,  Etude  sur   Quintus:    "II  offre  a  chaque  instant   des   comparaisons 

poetiques  et  charmantes II  a  Fair  d'un  homme  qui  a  vu  et  qui  dessine  d'apres  nature.     II  a  pour 

peindre  les  inondations  et  les  debordements  des  torrents,  ou  encore  la  violence  des  vents  s'engouffrant 
dans  les  gorges  etroites,  les  expressions  pleines  et  vives  d'un  homme  qui  en  sait  les  ravages  et  qui  les  a 
observes  dans  les  montagnes.     Ces  sortes  de  tableaux  chez  lui  ne  paraissent  pas  etre  des  lieux  communs 

ni  de  simples  imitations  d'Homere;  on  croit  y  sentir  1'effroi ;  il  a  du  etre  temoin  de  ces   fleaux 

Quantite  de  ces  comparaisons  pleines  de  verite  et  d'observation,  qui  ornent  en  si  grand  nombre  son  poeme, 
justifieraient  au  besoin  ce  qu'il  a  dit  de  lui,  qu'il  a  garde  des  troupeaux."  Christ,  Geschichte  der 
griechischen  Litter atur,  p.  7S5  (ed.  3)  :  "  Dieschone  Gleichnisse  ....  lassen  den  ehemaligen  Hirten 
erkennen,  der  mit  der  Natur  Kleinasiens  zusammengelebt  und  ihre  gewaltigen  Konvulsionen  in  Erdbeben 
(3.  64)  und  Bergsturzen  (1.  696;  n.  396)  gesehen  hatte." 

2  Quoted  from  Green,  Similes  of  Homer's  Iliad,  p.  18.  sSee  Jebb,  Homer,  p.  28. 


40  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

of  it.  Ouintus  has  aggregations  of  similes;  e.g.,  i.  37  ff.,  1.  61  ff., 
3.  39  ff.  In  the  last  of  these  the  motive  is  almost  the  same  as  in  the 
Homeric  aggregations;  that  is,  successive  phases  of  the  same  object 
are  represented.1  The  Greek  army  goes  forth  as  eager  for  fight  as 
wasps  by  the  roadside,  8.  39-46;  the  hosts  fill  the  plain  with  their  shin- 
ing armor  as  a  snow  cloud,  8.  47-58;  they  surge  forward  like  waves, 
8.  59-68;  they  dash  together  like  thunderbolts,  8.  69-75. 

VII.      THE    GODS,  RELIGIOUS    AND    MORAL    IDEAS. 

It  is  in  his  notions  of  the  gods  and  his  general  religious  and  moral 
ideas  that  Quintus  has  most  widely  departed  from  Homer.  It  is  true 
that  he  shows  some  effort  to  accommodate  the  Homeric  gods  to  the 
later  beliefs,  but,  as  Koechly  remarks,  the  gods  in  Quintus  are  only 
pale  shadows  patterned  after  the  Homeric  images,  doing  almost  the 
same  things,  but  lacking  all  blood  and  vigor,  so  that  one  could  easily 
believe  that  the  poet  himself  no  longer  had  any  faith  in  their  vitality 
and  power.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  the  religion  of  Quintus  was 
such  as  was  generally  held  by  the  learned  in  Asia  Minor  in  the  first 
and  second  centuries  of  our  era,  modified  perhaps  by  a  few  views 
peculiar  to  the  poet  himself.  But  it  is  not  likely  that  Ouintus  thought 
his  system  more  than  a  consistent  development  of  what  he  found  in 
Homer. 

His  universe  is  modeled  after  the  Homeric.  He  has  the  conven- 
tional heaven,  earth,  and  Hades,  and  the  sea,  presided  over  by  the 
proper  divinities.  Heaven  in  Quintus,  though  sometimes  called 
Olympus  as  in  the  Iliad,  is  really  a  place  indefinitely  removed  in  the 
sky,  corresponding  to  the  popular  notion.  When  strife  falls  among 
the  gods,  they  mount  the  winds  and  are  borne  from  heaven,  ovpavodev, 
to  earth  (12.  163).  When  the  strife  is  ended,  some  of  them  return 
7rpos  ovpavov  (12.  2 1 7);  but,  to  preserve  the  Homeric  color,  Zeus  directs 
his  chariot  to  a  scaur  of  Olympus  (12.  196). 

Closely  connected  with  heaven  were  the  Elysian  Fields.  Achilles 
(14.  224) 

&  'HXwnov  neSlov  Kiev,  ^x*  t4tvktcu. 
ovpavov  il-  vtt&tolo  KaTaifiaaLr)  t'  &vod6s  re 
adav&rois  fj.aK6.pea a iv. 

Again,  in  reference  to  Memnon  we  have  iv  puiKdpecro-i  /car'  'HXvmov 
iriBov  (2.  651),  and  Neoptolemus  is  to  be  borne  es  'HXwtlov  ttcSlov  .... 
fxaKapoJV  iirl  yatav,  3.  76 1. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  30. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  4 1 

This  formal  separation  of  the  Elysian  Fields  from  heaven  is  disre- 
garded except  in  these  passages,  in  the  last  two  of  which,  indeed,  they 
seem  to  be  confused.  The  term  /na/capes  here  may  refer  to  dead  heroes, 
who,  however,  in  other  passages  are  said  to  be  in  heaven  and  to  share 
the  life  of  gods.  So  Achilles  (14.  186)  says:  /xaKapecro-i  Oeolo-iv  77877 
6/u,€cttios  dfiL.  Achilles  further  (14.  308  ff.)  is  addressed  with  prayer, 
and  appeased  with  sacrifice  as  a  god.  Poseidon  (3.  755  ff.)  promises 
that  Achilles  shall  not  remain  in  Hades,  but  come  into  the  presence 
of  Zeus,  and  that  he  will  give  him  an  island  in  the  Euxine  Sea,  077-77 
0eos  eo-o-erai  det,  while  the  neighboring  peoples  shall  honor  him  with 
sacrifices  like  unto  Poseidon  himself.  ^Esculapius  is  said  (7.  60)  to 
have  gone  to  heaven,  and  is  called  an  immortal  (7.  90).  And  not  only 
heroes,  but  the  souls  of  the  good  also  are  said  (7.  91  ff.)  to  go  to 
heaven  and  be  with  the  gods  —  0ewv  8'  e's  <j>v\ov.  We  are  told  in  the 
same  passage  that  the  souls  of  the  bad  go  ttoti  t.o^ov.1 

In  his  portrayal  of  the  gods  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  Quintus  has 
made  an  effort  to  preserve  their  Homeric  character.  Perhaps  he  never 
admitted  to  himself  that  he  had  lost  faith  in  them.  At  any  rate,  it  will 
be  patent  to  any  reader  that  his  gods  have  nearly  the  same  relations 
among  themselves  and  to  the  Greeks  and  Trojans  as  in  Homer.  In 
fact,  he  seems  to  take  pains  that  this  shall  be  so.  They  quarrel  and 
fight,2  and  reference  is  sometimes  made  to  incidents  with  which  they 
are  connected  in  Homer.  The  supremacy  of  Zeus  is  also  dwelt  upon  ; 
see  especially  12.  155  ff. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  marked  differences  between  Quintus's 
gods  and  Homer's.  In  the  first  place,  Quintus  keeps  his  gods  rather 
rigidly  to  what  may  be  called  their  natural  provinces.  Zeus,  Athene, 
and  Apollo  are  set  over  the  phenomena  of  the  air  and  heaven ;  Ares 
and  other  belligerent  divinities  are  almost  alone  found  in  battles: 
whatsoever  occurs  on  sea  or  river  is  assigned  to  Poseidon,  Amphitrite, 
Thetis,  etc.  In  fine,  the  great  gods  in  Quintus  seem  really  to  be 
deified  powers  of  nature,  such  as  they  were  conceived  to  be  by  the 
Stoics. 

Equally  un-Homeric,  but  common  to  the  popular  Roman  religion 
of  Quintus's  day,  is  the  deification  of  the  great  number  of  natural 
objects  and    phenomena,  and   the  abstract  moral  qualities,  found   in 

1  For  the  popular  belief  in  Quintus's  day  in  reference  to  the  future  life,  Isles  of  the  Blessed,  Elysian 
Fields,  hero-worship,  etc.,  see  Rohde,  Psyche,  pp.  626  ff.  In  his  note  to  p.  658  Rohde  fails  to  observe 
that  Quintus  confounds  heaven  with  the  Elysian  Fields,  and  makes  it  the  abode  of  the  souls  of  all  good 
men. 

2  See  3.  98  ff.  and  12. 155  ff. 


42  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

Quintus.  Such  are  Eos,  Nyx,  Erigeneia,  Horai,  Helios,  Selene, 
Hyperion,  Orion,  Seirios,  Pleiades,  Oceanos,  Tethys,  Anemos,  Aurai, 
Zephyros,  Boreas,  Notos,  Euros;  Deimos,  Enyo,  Eris,  Thanatos,  Ker, 
Kydoimos,  Manie,  Moros,  Olethros,  Polemos,  Phobos,  Dike  and 
Themis,  Arete,  Charis.  All  of  these  are  just  as  personal  and  as  active 
as  gods  in  Quintus  as  Zeus  himself.  For  instance,  compare,  in  refer- 
ence to  Nyx,  2.  625  ff. : 

<tvv6.xvvto  8'  a/x(3pocrlr)  Ni>£ 
iraiSl  (piXy  ko.1  wdvra  KariKpv(pev  ovpavbs  darpa 
dxXi/t  ko.1  ve<pie<j<n  <f>{puv  x&Plv  'HpiyeveLy. 

Like  language  is  used  in  regard  to  the  others;  but  I  omit  further 
citation,  since  the  reader  may  find  all  references  in  the  "  Index  Nomi- 
num"  at  the  end  of  Zimmermann's  edition.  It  is  to  be  noted,  how- 
ever, that  malignant  divinities  are  called  daemons. 

Again,  the  appearance  of  gods  in  the  likeness  of  men  is  almost 
unknown  in  Quintus.  Ares  is  now  a  voice  (8.  326).  Apollo,  veiled  in 
a  cloud,  shoots  the  arrow  that  slays  Achilles,  and  is  recognized  only  by 
his  voice  (3.  40  ff.).  At  their  rare  appearances,  as  that  of  Thetis  and 
the  nymphs  at  the  funeral  of  Achilles,  they  are  in  propria  persona 
(3.  605  ff.).  Sometimes  they  appear  in  visions,  as  the  deified  Achilles 
to  his  son  (14.  179  ff.). 

A  marked  difference  from  Homer  is  seen  also  in  Quintus's  treat- 
ment of  the  worship  of  the  gods.  He  has  little  trace  of  priest  and 
oracle.  There  are  no  hecatombs,  but  little  slaughter  of  bullocks,  and 
no  first  drops  poured  from  the  wine-cups.  The  few  instances  of  sacri- 
fice and  libation  are  of  a  conventional  sort.  Prayers  are  few,  formal, 
and  short.  In  fact,  the  only  really  vital  worship  in  Quintus,  it  seems, 
is  hero-worship.  This,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  passages  cited  above 
relative  to  the  deification  of  Achilles,  seems  vital  enough.  Perhaps  the 
reason  is  that  Quintus  regards  only  deified  men  as  personal  gods 
with  a  direct  interest  in  human  affairs. 

Finally,  the  supreme  power  is  with  Quintus,  not  Zeus  as  in  Homer, 
but  Fate.  Called  by  the  names  Aisa,  Moira,  and  the  Moirai,  it  repre- 
sents the  unchangeable,  inexorable  course  of  events  in  the  universe. 
On  earth  it  determines  the  beginning,  the  extent,  and  the  limit  of 
human  life.  It  causes  increase  and  decrease;  it  exalts  and  debases. 
In  heaven  it  regards  not  the  gods  ;  all,  even  Zeus  himself,  must  yield 
to  its  decrees.     Again  and  again  Quintus  dwells  on  these  points. 

Another  side  of  Quintus's  religion  is  seen  in  the  great  number  of 
sententious  ideas — religious,  moral,  and  general.     He  was,  as  Christ 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  43 

remarks,1  a  pious  poet,  a  preacher  of  morality  to  the  young;  in  this,  of 
course,  differing  widely  from  Homer.  So  full  is  the  poem  of  these 
that  we  can  give  only  the  more  characteristic,  in  which  departure  from 
Homer  may  be  clearly  seen. 

Death  and  the  future  life. — We  have  already  seen  that  Quintus 
believed  in  heroes  becoming  gods,  and  the  souls  of  the  good  going  to 
heaven.  He  insists  that  the  soul  at  death  is  separated  from  the  body; 
ef.  2.  613:  ^/v\y]  07rou  cre'o  voacptv  a7ro(/>0i/u.evoio  7roTarat.2  Distinct  from 
the  soul  is  the  corpse,  v«kvs  (3.  697,  701,  etc.).  When  one  dies  his  soul 
goes  to  Hades,  vtto  £o<£ov(3.  774),  K.ara.)(dovia>v  ....  aiva  /3epc.$pa(2.  6 1 2). 
This  is  the  usual  method  of  speaking  in  Quintus;  only  in  one  or  two 
passages  does  he  hint  that  they  go  directly  to  heaven  (7.  41,  88). 
From  these  dark  abodes  they  are  raised  to  be  gods  (cf.  3.  770).  Quintus 
did  not  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  body,  not  even  in  the  cases 
of  Dionysus  and  Heracles,  whom  he  classes  with  Achilles  (3.  772). 

When  Quintus's  characters  die,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  frantic  grief, 
long  lamentations,  pouring  of  ashes  on  head,  funeral  games,  etc. 
(1.  376,  2.  260,  Book  3,  end).  Many  are  the  commonplaces  in  which 
Quintus  tries  to  rob  death  of  its  sting.  There  are  evils  greater  than 
death  (1.  432,  2.  38,  9.  283,  n.  220,  12.  302,  13.  269).  Fate  makes 
death  the  common  lot  of  all  (3.  633,  6.  433,  7.  38-92).  Lamentation 
should  be  moderate,  since  it  cannot  call  back  the  fleeting  breath  (3.  7, 
5.  605,  7.  38).     Death  is  not  the  end  of  all  (7.  88). 

Enemies. —  When  speaking  of  enemies,  Quintus  in  many  places 
seems  to  protest  against  the  savagery  of  the  early  Greeks.  No  mercy 
is  to  be  shown  them  living,  but  enmity  ceases  when  they  are  dead  (13. 
199,  239).  On  the  other  hand,  dead  enemies  are  always  given  up  for 
burial,  and  this  custom  is  enforced  by  sententious  moralizing  (1.  809, 
9.  37,  etc.).  Sometimes  Quintus  is  compelled  by  tradition  to  record 
savage  deeds,  such  as  the  slaughter  of  Priam  and  Polyxena,  but  he 
always  makes  an  apology  for  them,  and  on  the  whole  shows  a  humane 
spirit  characteristic  of  a  late  period. 

Women. —  In  dealing  with  women,  too,  Quintus  shows  the  influence 
of  sentiment  later  than  Homer  and  early  Greek  literature.  His  heroes 
and  heroines  suffered  no  indecent  exposure  of  person  before  the  oppo- 

1  "Auch  ein  frommer  Dichter  ist  Quintus,  der  anstossige  Scenen  meidet  und  mit  seinem,  fast  mochte 
man  glauben,  fur  die  Jugend  bestimmten  Gedicht  nicht  bloss  unterhaltcn,  sondern  auch  zu  Tugend  und 
Edelmut  erziehen  will."—  Geschichte  der  griechischen  Litteratur  (ed.  3),  p.  785. 

2  Cf.  also  7.  41  ff. : 

aioTOS 

i^vxt  oi  7rejr<m)Tai  es  i\i?o.,  auifxa.  8'  dvevde 
■nvp  0A061'  KareSai/fC  koX  hcrrio.  iefaro  yaia. 


44  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

site  sex.  Penthesileia  when  slain  falls  from  her  horse  so  as  to  preserve 
her  modesty1  (i.  621);  the  athletes  gird  themselves  before  Thetis  and 
the  nymphs  (4.  188);  modesty  forbids  Athene  to  look  upon  the  out- 
rage of  Cassandra  (13.  425) ;  even  Aphrodite  felt  shame  when  caught  in 
the  arms  of  Ares  (14.  49).  A  seemly  modesty  is  also  the  rule  for  all 
women  (9.  144,  12.  554).  The  relation  of  husband  and  wife  is  of  a 
very  high  order  in  Quintus,  and  is  the  subject  of  many  maxims  (1.  116, 
10.  470,7.  280,5.  531).  He  follows  Homer  in  emphasizing  the  dif- 
ferent spheres  of  men  and  women  (1.  464).  The  sad  lot  of  captive 
women,  often  dwelt  upon  in  Homer  and  in  Greek  tragedy,  is  echoed 
also  in  Quintus  (13.  108). 

Quintus  has  also  many  ideas  on  the  changeableness  of  human 
things  (8.  473,  13.  248,  9.  105,  499).  Some  of  these  are  borrowed 
from  older  poets  ;  e.  g.,  aXXort  yap  re  <pLXrj  TreAei  lyws,  dWore  8'  ix^PV 
(8.  473)  from  Hesiod,  Op.,  825.  Another  of  like  purport  is  avSpdaiv  in 
KafxaroLO  iriXti  BaXir)  re  Kai  oA/?os  (9.  105). 

Courage  and  endurance. — The  maxims  are  numerous,  but  of  a  con- 
ventional kind  (6.  46,  8.  18,  12.  231,  265,  60,  71,  5.  596,  12.  388, 
9.  275).  Toil  is  necessary  to  secure  glory  (1.  738,  2.  76,  12.  292, 
14.  112,  6.  449). 

Wisdom  and  prudence. — The  superiority  of  wisdom  over  mere  brute 
strength  is  dwelt  upon  (5.  241,  262,  4.  379,  2.  83). 

General  moral  precepts. — These  are  very  numerous  (5.  49,  592,  14. 
185).  Some  relate  especially  to  anger  (5.  574);  some  to  jealousy 
(6.  37,  9.  347);  some  to  lust  (1.  736-40);  some  to  wine  (2.  154);  some 
to  hope  (1.  72);  some  to  patriotism  (8.  441,  9.  92,  10.  43);  some  to 
childhood,  youth,  and  old  age  (14.  389,  2.  325,  4.  322,  13.  195, 
2.  309);  some  to  orphans  (5.  553). 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  Quintus  in  enforcing  moral  precepts  often 
resorts  to  allegories.  These  are  often  elaborately  worked  out.  Some 
of  the  longer  are:  "the  mountain  of  virtue"  (5.  49),  in  imitation  of 
Hesiod's  Works  and  Days,  287  ff . ;  "the  paths  of  life"  (9.  499);  "the 
dispenser  of  good  and  evil"  (7.  70),  where  Quintus  had  in  mind  the 
casks  of  Zeus,  O  527;  "the  roads  to  good  and  evil,"  12.  292;  "the 
Litai"  (10.  300),  after  I  502. 

Finally,  as  Christ  has  observed,  Quintus  purposely  introduces  his 
moral  precepts  for  instruction.  The  extraordinary  number  of  these 
maxims  introduced  on  slight  occasion  would  argue  as  much.  Besides, 
we  find  set  speeches,  such  as  that  of  the  shade  of  Achilles  to  his  son 

1  Cf.  Euripides,  Hec,  568,  569;  Ovid,  Fasti,  II,  833;  Met.,  13.  479. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  45 

(14.  185-209),  which  consist  of  strings  of  moral  precepts.  All  of  this 
detracts  much,  more  than  any  other  one  thing,  from  the  Homeric 
character  of  Quintus's  poem. 

VIII.       OUTLINE    OF    POEM. 

In  his  religious  ideas,  then,  Quintus  fails  to  sustain  the  Homeric 
character  of  his  poem.  In  other  things  he  faithfully  imitates  Homer, 
and  most  of  all  by  means  of  replicas  of  Homeric  situations  and 
descriptions,  and  by  the  use  of  Homeric  motifs.  This  can  be  satisfac- 
torily seen  only  by  an  analysis  of  his  work  book  by  book ;  and  to  this 

we  now  turn. 

book  1. 

The  poem  takes  up  the  account  of  the  Trojan  war  at  the  point 
where  it  was  left  by  the  Iliad.  First  we  are  told  of  the  terror  of  the 
Trojans  after  Hector's  death,  illustrated  by  a  simile  of  cattle  and  lions 
(O  629). — 17.  Next  the  Amazons  come  and  are  entertained  by  Priam. 
The  list  of  their  names,  beginning  avO'  ap'  erjv xK\ovltj,  is  seemingly 
modeled  after  the  list  of  the  Nereids,  evfl'  ap'  fyv  TXavKrj  (2  39),  in 
which  passage  Quintus  saw  none  of  the  interpolation  which  has  dis- 
tressed some  modern  critics.  Andromache  chides  the  confidence  of 
the  Amazon  Penthesileia,  recalling  Homeric  incidents  in  the  life  of 
Hector,  whom  she  regrets  surviving  —  a  Homeric  touch. — 114.  After 
supper  Penthesileia  goes  to  bed,  when  Athene  sends  her  a  dream  to 
make  her  eager  for  the  fray.  But  why?  She  was  already  eager.  For 
no  other  reason,  seemingly,  than  that  Agamemnon  (B)  has  a  false 
dream,  and  Homer  must  be  imitated  at  whatever  cost.  Her  dream 
also  is  false. — 137.  Next  morning  Penthesileia  rises  and  arms  herself 
after  the  manner  of  Agamemnon  in  A  16  ff.  Then,  mounted  on  a  horse, 
she  leads  Trojans  and  allies  to  battle. — 181.  Priam's  prayer  to  Zeus 
is  answered  by  a  bad  omen  —  an  eagle  with  a  dove  in  his  talons  on  the 
left. —  204.  There  are  similar  omens  in  M  200,  /3  146.  The  battle 
is  joined  and  fought  as  in  Homer.  And  what  is  true  of  this  battle  is 
true  of  all  Quintus's  battles.  First  we  have  an  imitation  of  the 
"run"  on  joining  battle  (A  446).  Then  Penthesileia  slays  a  number 
in  quick  succession,  just  as  the  Homeric  heroes  ;  compare  228-30  with 
©  274-77.  In  general,  we  find  such  Homeric  details  as  glancing 
spears  which  slay  another  person  than  the  one  aimed  at,  boast  and 
counter-boast  of  combatants,  and  vaunt  of  victor,  predictions  in  mouth 
of  the  dying,  story  of  birth  of  the  slain,  side  remarks  by  friend  or  foe, 
etc.;  the  various  incidents  being  illustrated  by  similes,  often  Homeric. 


46  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

—  402.  The  Trojan  women  are  incited  by  Tisiphone  to  go  forth  to 
battle,  but  are  restrained  by  Theano,  who  in  her  speech  repeats  the 
Homeric  maxim,  "Woman  for  the  home,  man  for  the  field"  (Z  490). 

—  475.  Penthesileia  has  in  the  meantime  shut  up  the  Greeks  in  their 
walls,  and  is  on  the  point  of  burning  their  ships  —  a  situation  suggest- 
ive of  that  at  the  opening  of  II.  At  this  juncture  the  tumult  of  the 
battle  reaches  Achilles  and  Ajax,  who,  as  has  been  before  explained, 
have  been  at  the  tomb  of  Patroclus,  manifesting  their  grief  by  rolling 
on  the  ground  and  groaning,  as  Achilles  does  in  the  Iliad.  Some  god 
has  come  hither  to  keep  them  away.  Coming  on  the  field,  they  slay 
notable  Trojans  in  great  number.— 529.  Penthesileia  attacks  them, 
hurls  an  ineffectual  spear  at  Achilles,  and,  after  some  speech,  another 
at  Ajax,  who,  strangely  enough,  turns  aside,  leaving  the  Amazon  to 
Achilles. —  572.  Achilles  makes  boast  and  strikes  her  through  with 
his  spear.  She  is  debating  with  herself  whether  to  supplicate  Achilles, 
when  with  another  spear  he  strikes  through  both  horse  and  rider.  The 
Trojans  flee,  and  Achilles  insults  the  corpse  much  as  he  does  that  of 
Hector  (X  352). —  653.  On  loosening  her  helmet  and  seeing  her 
beauty,  he  regrets  not  having  taken  her  alive. —  674.  Ares,  maddened 
by  the  death  of  his  daughter,  Penthesileia,  is  with  difficulty  frightened 
from  the  field  of  battle  by  the  thunderbolts  of  Zeus.  The  Greeks 
spoil  the  slain.  Thersites,  coming  up,  begins  to  chide  Achilles  as  he 
chided  Agamemnon  (B  225).  But  the  ruthless  Achilles  with  his  pow- 
erful hands  stretches  Thersites  dead  on  the  ground  —  a  good  deed,  for 
he  was  always  chiding  the  Greeks  and  was  a  disgrace  to  them.  Then 
follows  an  aside,  much  the  same  as  that  in  B  272,  and  Achilles  speaks 
of  the  former  insolence  and  wordiness  of  Thersites,  with  explicit  refer- 
ence to  the  Iliad  passage. —  765.  Diomedes,  Thersites's  kinsman, 
takes  up  the  blood-feud,  but  is  restrained  by  friends. —  781.  The 
Greeks  and  Trojans  bury  their  dead,  the  former  surrendering  the  dead 
Amazons  and  Trojans;  "for  no  anger  is  felt  against  the  dead,  but  they 
are  objects  of  pity,  no  longer  enemies,  when  once  life  is  gone;"  cf. 
H  408.  The  book  closes  with  an  evening  banquet  in  the  tent  of 
Agamemnon  as  in  H  313  ff. —  830. 

Homeric  similes  in  this  book  are  those  of  lion  and  cattle,  (O  629), 
1.  4;  moon-like  shield,  (T  373),  1.  147;  sheep  and  ram,  (N  491),  1.  175  ; 
falling  tree,  (II  484),  etc.,  1.  249;  slaughtered  cows,  (P  520),  1.  261; 
lioness  and  cattle,  (E  161),  1.  314  ;  falling  olive  tree,  (P  53),  1.  265  ;  dis- 
tressed sailors,  (H  4),  1.  633  ;  thunderbolt,  (N  241),  1.  677.  Sometimes 
the  reference  to  Homer  is  remote,  sometimes  very  definite. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  47 

BOOK   II. 

The  next  morning  the  Trojans  hold  an  assembly,  in  many  respects 
like  that  in  H  345  ff.  Thymoites  advises  flight,  but  Priam  has  hopes 
of  Memnon,  whom  he  believes  near.  In  the  meantime  they  will  man 
the  walls.  Hereupon  the  prudent  Polydamas  advises  restoring  Helen 
and  all  her  possessions  to  the  Greeks,  as  Antenor  previously  (H  345). 
In  the  light  of  the  ill  success  of  the  embassy  in  H  the  proposal 
of  Polydamas  is  hard  to  explain.  The  Trojans  approve,  but  Paris,  as 
in  H  357,  objects,  taxing  Polydamas  with  cowardice.  Paris  remem- 
bers the  woes  he  has  caused  and  is  silent  —  a  Homeric  touch. —  99. 

After  some  time  Memnon  comes,  leading  a  host  of  Ethiopians,  and 
is  banqueted  by  Priam.  The  "pedigree"  of  a  cup  is  given  like  that 
of  the  spear  (B  100  ff.). — 145.  Memnon  is  temperate,  for  much  wine 
and  lack  of  sleep  sap  a  warrior's  strength.  Priam  does  not  detain 
him  from  his  couch,  for  it  is  "not  custom  to  detain  or  hasten  a  depart- 
ing guest."  So  in  the  Odyssey. — 160.  The  scene  changes  to  the  gods 
banqueting  in  the  palace  of  Zeus.  He  foretells  a  bloody  day  on  the 
morrow,  and  bids  the  gods  take  no  part ;  which  behest  is  obeyed  with 
a  readiness  foreign  to  the  episode  in  ®.  The  gods  go  to  their  beds  as 
at  the  close  of  A. — 182. 

The  next  morning  Memnon  leads  forth  the  folk  to  battle.  The 
Greeks  advance  to  meet  them.  As  in  Homer,  this  and  all  moving 
armies  are  described  by  a  number  of  similes.  Battle  is  joined.  Achilles 
is  in  one  part  of  the  field,  Memnon  in  another.  The  latter  finally  kills 
Antilochus,  a  second  Patroclus.  Memnon  generously  refuses  to  fight 
Nestor,  who,  frantic  with  grief,  goes  to  bring  Achilles.  Memnon  and 
Achilles  meet.  Memnon  uses  a  stone  ineffectually.  Speeches  follow 
much  like  those  of  y£neas  and  Achilles  (Y  251  ff.).  Achilles  declares 
that,  as  he  killed  Hector  to  avenge  Patroclus,  so  he  will  kill  Memnon 
to  avenge  Antilochus.  After  a  long  battle,  with  here  and  there  a 
Homeric  touch,  such  as  the  balances1  wherein  their  destinies  are 
weighed,  Achilles  slays  Memnon.  —  547.  His  body  is  carried  by  the 
winds  through  the  air.  Drops  of  gore  from  it  form  the  Paphlagonian 
river,  still  of  putrid  smell  on  "  Memnon's  Day."  The  Ethiopians  also 
are  whisked  away.  Dawn  laments  her  son. —  627.  The  Greeks  weep 
for  Antilochus.  Dawn  is  persuaded  by  the  thunder  of  Zeus  to  shine 
as  before.  The  Ethiopians  bury  Memnon,  and  are  changed  into 
birds  called  "Memnons."     Dawn  rises. —  666. 

Homeric    similes    in    the    second    book    are :    calm    after   storm 

1  See  below,  chapter  on  "  Sources,"  the  tragedians. 


48  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

("A  233)»  1-  I025  rain-swollen  rivers  (E  87;  A  492;  P  263),!.  220; 
fight  of  lion  and  boar  (II  823),  1.  247;  hunters,  M  41,  etc.),  1.  282; 
jackals  driven  from  carcass  of  stag  by  lion  (A  473),!.  295;  swollen 
river  (E  87,  etc.),  1.  345;  mist  in  mountain  (r  10),  1.  470;  wild 
beasts  carrying  dead  animal  (N  198),  1.  575. 

BOOK    III. 

On  the  morrow  the  Greeks  bury  Antilochus.  Nestor,  with  his 
usual  prudence,  refrains  from  outbursts  of  grief,  but  Achilles  is  yet 
more  angry  against  the  enemy.  The  Trojans  come  from  the  city, 
"because  the  Fates  struck  courage  into  their  hearts."  Many  were  to 
perish  at  the  hands  of  Achilles,  who  was  himself  to  die. —  20.  Achilles 
routs  the  Trojans  with  great  havoc,  drives  them  into  the  city,  and  is 
ready  to  break  down  their  gates  when  Apollo  comes  in  anger  from 
Olympus.  Quintus  borrows  here  from  A  34  and  II  698.'  Apollo 
cries  to  Achilles  to  withdraw  as  he  did  to  Patroclus  (II  706).  But 
Achilles,  unlike  Patroclus,  does  not  withdraw,  but  answers  fearlessly: 
"I  desire  not  to  fight  with  gods,  you  have  already  [X  15]  deceived  me 
and  saved  Hector  from  destruction." — 52.  Achilles  turns  to  slaying. 
Apollo,  becoming  wroth,  shoots  an  arrow  into  his  ankle,  inflicting  a 
fatal  wound.  Achilles  upbraids  him  as  a  shooter  of  arrows  and  a  coward 
who  attacks  unseen.  Perhaps  this  is  a  protest  against  Homeric  ideas 
of  ambuscade.  Achilles  conjectures  that  Apollo  has  wounded  him 
because  his  mother  has  predicted  (4>  278,  X  359)  that  he  should  thus 
meet  his  doom  at  the  Scsean  gate.  Here,  however,  Paris2  has  no  part 
in  his  death. —  82.  The  arrow  is  withdrawn  by  Achilles  and  carried  by 
the  breezes  to  Apollo,  who  on  returning  to  Olympus  is  soundly  berated 
by  Hera.  She  refers  to  Apollo's  harping  and  prayer  at  the  marriage  of 
Thetis  and  to  his  service  of  Laomedon,  and  predicts  that  Achilles's  son 
will  come  from  Scyrus  and  prove  as  mighty  as  his  father. — 126.  The 
marriage  is  referred  to  in  O  55,  the  coming  of  Neoptolemus  in  T  331, 
where  some  critics  have  seen  the  hand  of  an  interpolater ;  Poseidon 
($  440)  also  chides  Apollo  for  his  service  of  Laomedon.  Hera 
commands  more  reverence  than  in  the  Iliad.  Achilles  in  the  mean- 
time is  still  able  to  carry  on  the  fight.     Before  giving  up  the  ghost  he 

1  The  reference  may  be  hereto  *  540  and  E  440,  as  Noack.  Gottingische  gelehrte  Anzeigen, 
1892,  p.  776,  supposes,  but  only  remotely  so;  there  is  much  clearer  imitation  of  the  Patroclus  episode. 

2  The  numerous  appropriations  from  Homer  in  this  book  make  exceedingly  conjectural  any  theory  of 
the  lost  tragedies  of  ^Eschylus  based  upon  it.  Quintus  uses  his  material  as  he  likes;  variance  from  the 
Cyclics  does  not,  as  Baumstarck,  Philologus,  Vol.  LV,  pp.  281  ff.,  believes,  prove  that  he  followed  some 
other  source,  i.  e.,  ^Eschylus.  It  is  possible  that  he  had  read  ^Eschylus,  but  any  close  relation  to  him 
cannot  be  proved. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  49 

cries    to    the   fleeing   Trojans  that   they   shall   pay   atonement   to   his 
Erinyes.     His  fall  is  told  in  a  dramatic  way. — 185. 

Paris  exhorts  the  Trojans  to  drag  off  Achilles's  body.  A  fight 
follows  like  that  around  the  body  of  Patroclus.  At  first  Glaucus, 
^Eneas,  and  Agenor  are  opposed  to  Ajax,  who,  as  in  the  case  of  Patroc- 
lus, defends  the  body.  Ajax  and  Glaucus  come  to  single  combat. 
First  we  have  speeches.  Ajax  refers  to  Hector's  fear  of  himself,  and 
warns  Glaucus  that  he  will  not  prove  a  paternal  guest-friend,  as  did 
Diomedes  in  Z  122.  Glaucus  is  slain  and  his  body  rescued  by  JEneas. 
The  battling  continues.  ^Eneas  is  wounded  and  retires.  Odysseus 
comes  on  the  scene  and  fights  a  replica  of  his  battle  with  Socus  (A 
434).  Paris,  drawing  his  bow,  is  struck  down  by  Ajax  with  a  stone,  as 
was  Teucer  by  Hector  (®  321  ff .),  but  is  saved  by  his  friends.  At  length 
Ajax  routs  the  Trojans  and  shuts  them  up  in  their  city.  Quintus  pur- 
posely leaves  doubtful  which  of  the  /foo-iAr/es1  carried  off  the  body  with 
a  view  to  the  coming  ottXwv  /cpio-is. — 387.  The  following  descriptions 
of  the  dejection  of  the  Greeks,  and  all  the  events  connected  with  the 
funeral  rites  of  Achilles  are,  as  Struve2  first  saw,  only  an  expansion  of 
to  40  ff.  The  details  are,  however,  borrowed  from  the  Iliad.  The 
Greeks  in  dejection  lie  on  their  faces,  pouring  sand  on  their  heads, 
rend  their  hair,  etc.;  cf.  2  355,  T4,  *  59.  The  Myrmidons  make 
lament ;  so  does  Ajax,  who  in  his  speech  glances  at  T  335,  in  reference 
to  Peleus's  grief  for  his  son. — 458.  Phoenix  follows,  repeating  many 
things  from  I  434  ff.,  among  them  his  flight  from  his  native  land,  his 
reception  by  Peleus,  and  his  nursing  Achilles. — 489.  Agamemnon  in 
a  characteristic  speech  accuses  Zeus  of  treachery  and  deceit.  At  the 
bidding  of  Nestor,  they  wash  and  dress  the  body  (co  45),  as  also  was 
done  in  the  case  of  Patroclus  (2  343).  Athene  drops  nectar  on  the 
corpse — Thetis  did  the  same  for  Patroclus  (T  37)  —  and  makes  his 
brow  as  terrible  as  it  was  at  the  trench  (2  215).  Achilles's  captive 
women,  Briseis  especially,  make  lament,  the  speech  of  the  latter  being 
made  up  of  elements  found  in  Andromache's  speech  to  Hector  (Z 
429  ff.)  and  Briseis's  lament  for  Patroclus  (T  288  ff.).3 — 573.  The 
Nereids  and  Muses  come  (w  47,  45,  48-61).  Zeus  inspires  the  Greeks 
with  courage,  that  they  may  not,  as  the  Myrmidons  (T  14),  fear   the 

1  Baumstarck,  loc.  cit.,  thinks  these  were  the  Atreidae. 

sKoechly  follows  Struve.  So  do  Noack  and  Baumstarck,  loc.  cit.  The  latter  gives  an  exhaust- 
ive analysis  of  the  relationship  between  Quintus  and  the  Odyssey,  both  in  matter  and  in  language. 
Noack  correctly  sees  that  in  expanding  the  account  of  the  Odyssey  Quintus  borrowed  freely  from  the 
Iliad. 

3  Noack  also  sees  dependence  on  I  336  ff.,  but  this  seems  to  me  improbable. 


50  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

divine  presence.  Thetis  speaks  referring  to  her  unwillingness  to  marry 
an  old  man  and  the  promise  by  Zeus  of  a  valiant  son  (2  432,  435), 
and  declares  her  purpose  to  go  to  Zeus,  as  in  A  426.  She  also  refers 
to  the  death  of  Asteropseus  (<£>  139 — Noack).  Calliope  consoles  her 
by  promising  to  make  Achilles's  fame  immortal. —  654. 

The  next  morning  the  Greeks  make  Achilles's  pyre.  The  whole 
account  is  even  in  minute  details  modeled  after  the  account  of  the 
burial  of  Patroclus  (ty).  They  go  to  Ida  for  wood.  On  the  pyre  are 
burned  the  bodies  of  captive  Trojans,  horses  and  oxen,  gold  and  elec- 
trum,  wine  and  oil.  The  Myrmidons  and  Briseis  cut  their  hair. 
Horsemen  and  footmen  move  around  the  pyre.  The  winds  refuse  to 
blow  until  a  god  intervenes — in  this  instance  they  are  furnished  by 
yfiolus,  at  the  request  of  Zeus.  All  day  and  night  the  pyre  burns. 
The  Myrmidons  quench  it  with  wine,  and  gather  up  the  ashes  of 
Achilles,  which  are  deposited  in  an  urn  and  buried.  All  of  these 
events  are  borrowed  from  the  burial  of  Patroclus.  Besides,  as  Baum- 
starck  has  shown,  there  are  many  similarities  of  language. — 742.  The 
horses  of  Achilles  weep;  cf.  P  427.  Mention  is  made  of  their  suc- 
cessive owners,  the  last  of  whom  is  to  be  Neoptolemus. — 765.  Poseidon 
comforts  Thetis  by  the  assurance  that  Achilles  is  to  be  a  god  and  have 
an  island  in  the  Euxine. — 787. 

Homeric  similes  in  the  third  book  are:  hunters  and  lion  (E  534), 
1.  142;  fish  and  dolphin  (<£  22),  1.  271  leaves  scattered  by  wind, 
(Z  146),  1.  325;  eagle  and  birds  (O  688),  1.  353;  fountain  of  tears 
(I  13,  n  2),  1.  577. 

BOOK    IV. 

The  Trojans  are  busy  with  the  burial  of  Glaucus,  when  Apollo 
raises  him  from  the  pyre  and  gives  him  to  the  winds  to  carry  to  Lycia, 
where  a  large  mound  is  heaped  over  him,  from  which  springs  the 
Glaucus  river. — 12.  Here  is  a  replica  with  variations  of  the  taking 
away  of  the  body  of  Sarpedon  (II  667  ff.). 

The  grief  of  the  Greeks  continues.  The  Trojans  rejoice,  wish  that 
Hector  were  alive,  and  hope  that  the  Greeks  will  withdraw;  but 
some  remember  that  other  brave  Greeks  survive. — 42.  On  Olym- 
pus Hera  chides  Zeus  for  helping  the  Trojans  and  reminds  him  of  the 
marriage  of  Thetis. —  55  ;  cf.  fi  55.  Night  comes  on  ;  the  Greeks  take 
food,  for  a  ravening  belly  must  be  satisfied  (cf.  T  225  ff.).- — 73.  The 
next  morning  Diomedes  exhorts  the  Greeks  to  go  forth  to  battle,  but 
Ajax  bids  them  wait  for  Thetis,  who  is  to  come  and  set  up  funeral 
games.     We  have  here  an  anticipation  of  Ajax's  death.     Thetis,  as  in 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  5 1 

Homer,  comes  like  a  mist  and  brings  out  the  prizes. — 117;  cf.  w  91. 
Nestor  first  stands  forth,  not  to  box  or  wrestle  —  his  age  was  too  great  — 
but  to  speak,  in  which  he  excelled  all.  He  "sings"  of  the  marriage 
of  Thetis  in  detail,  then  of  the  deeds  of  Achilles,  IvQzv  IXwv  —  a  phrase 
from  the  Odyssey — where  Achilles  sacks  the  twelve  cities  on  the  sea 
voyage,  and  eleven  by  land,  and  going  on  to  his  slaying  of  Telephus, 
Cycnus,  Polydorus,  Troilus,  Asteropasus,  Lycaon,  Hector,  Penthesileia, 
and  Memnon.  He  closes  with  a  prayer  that  Achilles's  son  may  come, 
equal  to  his  father,  from  Scyrus.  Without  contest  (cf.  *  616)  he 
receives  as  a  prize  the  steeds  which  Telephus  once  gave  Achilles. 
These,  as  in  the  Iliad,  are  given  to  servants  to  be  led  to  the  ships. 
— 1S0. 

Next  comes  the  foot-race,  the  prize  for  which  is  twelve  cows  with 
heifer  calves.  Teucer  and  Ajax  Oileus  enter.  The  race  is  even  until 
the  gods  cause  Teucer  to  slip  on  a  branch  of  tamarisk.  The  slipping 
was  common,  but  Quintus  purposely  varies  the  cause  from  that  in  the 
Iliad.  Teucer  needs  a  physician. —  214.  Diomedes  and  Ajax  wrestle. 
Each  gets  a  fall,  when  Nestor  intervenes  with  a  speech  of  the  same 
length  as  that  used  by  Achilles  to  stop  the  wrestling  match  in  the  Iliad. 
Unlike  the  characters  in  the  Iliad,  they  kiss  and  become  friends  again. 
For  boxing,  Idomeneus,  because  of  his  age,  gets  a  prize  without  a  con- 
test. Phoenix  ineffectually  urges  the  young  men  to  fight,  but  Nestor 
succeeds  with  a  speech  patterned  after  that  in  ^  626  ff.,  with  incidents 
gathered  from  his  speeches  here  and  there  in  the  Iliad. —  322.  Here- 
upon up  rises  Epeius,  an  invincible  boxer,  but  a  poor  warrior  (cf. 
*  670).  Acamas,  son  of  Theseus,  rises  to  oppose  him,  and  is  pre- 
pared for  the  contest  as  was  Euryalus  in  the  Iliad.  At  the  end  of  a 
rather  long  fight,  Epeius  is  victor,  and  they  kiss. — 435.  Next  a  mass 
of  iron  {cf.  &  826)  is  brought  forth.  Ajax  alone  can  hurl  it.  Its 
"pedigree"  is  given. — 464.  Leaping  and  hurling  the  spear  follow. 
All  refuse  the  challenge  of  Ajax  to  single  combat. — 499.  Next  comes 
the  chariot  race.  Menelaus,  Eurypylus,  Eumelus,  Thoas,  and  Poly- 
poetes  enter.  The  start  is  made.  Then  comes  a  lacuna.  Menelaus 
has  won.  Someone  closes  a  speech,  praising  the  victor  and  his  horses. 
Thoas  and  Eurypylus  have  fallen  from  their  chariots  and  are  severely 
bruised,  but  are  healed  by  Podaleirius. — 544.  Last  of  all  comes  a  race 
on  horseback.  Sthenelus  would  have  won,  but  his  horse  taking  to  the 
brush  gives  the  race  to  Agamemnon.  The  prizes  are  pieces  of  armor 
taken  by  Achilles  from  Polydorus  and  Asteropaeus.  Odysseus  is  kept 
from  the  contests  by  his  wounds. — 595. 


52  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

The  order  of  the  contest  is  different  from  that  in  the  Iliad.  Per- 
haps Quintus  conforms  to  that  of  his  day.  There  seem  to  be  no 
Virgilian  touches. 

Homeric  similes  are  :  wind  on  sea  and  corn  (B  146),  1.  79  ;  wild  beast 
fighting  over  body  of  stag  (II  756),  1.  220;  mist-like  cloud  of  dust 
(r  10),  1.  519;  windstorm  on  sea  (A  304,  N  334),  1.  550. 

book  v. 

After  the  other  contests  are  over,  Thetis  brings  forth  the  armor  of 
Achilles.  First  the  shield  is  described  at  length  after  2,  as  has  been 
shown  above.  There  follow  short  descriptions  of  the  helmet,  cuirass, 
greaves,  sword,  and  spear  "steaming  still  with  Hector's  blood." — 120. 

This  armor  is  offered  to  "him  who  rescued  the  body  and  is  the 
best  of  the  Greeks."  It  is  claimed  by  both  Ajax  and  Odysseus.  The 
former  demands  as  judges  Idomeneus,  Nestor,  and  Agamemnon. 
Odysseus  consents.  But  Nestor,  fearing  the  anger  of  the  defeated  can- 
didate, dissuades  the  other  two  judges.  As  in  Homer,  he  demands 
obedience  because  he  is  older.  On  his  advice,  the  judgment  is  left  to 
Trojan  captives.  Now  follows  a  regular  court  trial,  which  follows  per- 
haps the  Althiopis,  certainly  not  the  Little  Iliad.1  Ajax  makes  a  charac- 
teristic speech.  He  claims  that  Odysseus  is  a  coward  who  was  forced 
into  the  war,  that  he  was  the  cause  of  Philoctetes's  being  left  on 
Lemnos,  and  of  the  death  of  Palamedes  —  in  all  of  which  Quintus 
borrows  from  post-Homeric  sources.  He  next  refers  to  his  rescue  of 
Odysseus  (A  472  ff.),  to  the  central  position  of  Odysseus's  ships,  and 
to  his  own  prowess  in  withstanding  Hector  and  keeping  the  fire  from 
the  ship  —  all  Homeric  matters.  Finally  he  charges  that  Odysseus  by 
tricks  of  rhetoric  hopes  to  cheat  him  of  the  arms. —  236. 

Odysseus  replies  craftily.  First  he  repels  the  charge  of  cowardice; 
then  claims  superiority  to  Ajax  in  wisdom  and  speech.  Here  follows 
a  replica  of  Nestor's  laudation  of  /j.rJTi<;  (^  313  ff.).  He  next  refers  to 
his  services  to  the  Greeks,  the  Doloneia,  and  his  winning  Achilles  for 
the  expedition  (A  769  ff.).  The  gods  gave  him  strength  as  well  as 
craft.  Ajax  did  not  rescue  him;  rather  he  himself  saved  Ajax;  he 
placed  his  ships  in  the  center  so  as  to  be  able  to  bear  aid  in  either 
direction;  he  stole  into  Troy;  he  was  also  ready  to  accept  Hector's 
challenge  (H  168);  he  killed  more  men  than  Ajax  over  the  body  of 
Achilles. —  290. 

In  his  second  speech   Ajax    dwells  on   his    former    themes  —  the 

1  See  schol.  on  Ar.,  Eq.,  1056,  and  schol.  on  K  547. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  53 

cowardice  of  Odysseus  and  his  own  prowess.  In  reply,  Odysseus 
refers  to  his  wrestle  with  Ajax  in  Patroclus's  funeral  games,  as  proof 
that  he  is  equal  to  Ajax  in  might ;  in  wit  he  claims  to  be  much  better. 
—316. 

The  judges  decide  in  favor  of  Odysseus.  Ajax  is  maddened.  Death 
is  near  him.  Night  comes  on.  The  Nereids  depart.  The  Greeks 
banquet  and  drink  wine  brought  from  Crete. —  351. 

An  account  of  Ajax's  madness  follows.  He  arms  himself  to  slay 
the  sleeping  Greeks,  but  is  set  in  a  frenzy  by  Athene. —  393.  Day 
dawns.  Sleep  goes  up  into  heaven  and  meets  Hera,  who  kisses  him,  as 
he  has  been  her  kinsman  from  the  day  he  lulled  Zeus  to  sleep 
(H  231  ff.).  Ajax  falls  upon  the  sheep.  Menelaus  observes  him  and 
predicts  the  destruction  of  the  ships.  Agamemnon,  as  in  Homer, 
blames  the  gods. — 431.  Ajax,  continuing,  finally  kills  a  big  ram  which 
he  addresses  as  Odysseus. — 448.  His  madness  is  removed  by  Athene. 
Ajax  calls  down  curses  on  Odysseus,  Agamemnon,  and  the  other 
Greeks,  such  as  actually  befell  them.  Then  he  falls  upon  the  sword 
given  by  Hector. — 446. 

The  Greeks  are  in  great  sorrow.  Teucer  tries  to  kill  himself. 
Some  critics  think  references  to  suicide  in  Homer  (2  34)  are  interpo- 
lated. Quintus  has  no  trouble  over  them.  Teucer  speaks.  Tecmessa 
laments  her  husband  in  a  speech  which  borrows  from  various  speeches 
of  Andromache ;  cf.  "Ekto/>  iyi»  Svarrjvos  (X  477)  and  wju.01  iyio  Swt^vos 
(1.  532).  She  also  repeats  from  Z  429  the  idea  that  a  husband  is 
dearer  than  a  father,  etc.  She  closes  by  bewailing  the  lot  of  her 
orphan  child,  as  does  Andromache  at  greater  length.  However, 
Quintus  seems  to  have  anticipated  some  modern  critics  in  thinking 
Andromache's  fear  ungrounded.  At  any  rate,  he  makes  Agamemnon 
assure  Tecmessa  of  his  protection  of  her  and  her  son. —  567.  Odys 
seus  next  makes  long  lamentation,  in  which  are  incorporated  some 
borrowings  from  A  541  ff.  In  closing,  he  blames,  not  Zeus,  as  in  the 
Odyssey,  but  Fate. —  597.  Nestor,  in  his  Homeric  role  of  advisor,  bids 
the  Greeks  cease  from  their  grief  and  bury  Ajax. —  611.  The  various 
details  of  the  burial  are  given  —  Quintus  never  wearies  of  telling  of 
funerals. —  663.  This  whole  account  shows  more  of  the  spirit  of 
A  541  ff.  than  of  the  Ajax  of  Sophocles. 

Homeric  similes  are:  bright  as  a  star  (X  25),  1.  130;  eagle  and 
geese  (O  690),  1.  296;  boiling  water  (<I>  362),  1.  382;  wind  in  forest 
(O  605),  1.  388  ;  lion  among  sheep  (M  298),  1.  406 ;  eagle  and  hares 
(P  673),  1-  434- 


54  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

BOOK  VI. 

How  blindly  Quintus  imitates  Homer  may  be  seen  in  the  opening 
of  this  book.  One  would  think  that  Agamemnon's  ill-fated  proposal 
of  return  in  B  would  not  have  been  repeated.  But  with  Quintus 
Homer  is  good  for  all  occasions.  In  the  present  passage  the  design 
may  be  to  show  the  generosity  of  Menelaus.  For  Menelaus  —  not 
Agamemnon,  as  in  Tychsen's  Argumenta  —  assembles  the  Greeks  and 
proposes  abandonment  of  the  war.  He  is  tired  of  seeing  them  suffer 
on  account  of  himself  and  the  dog-faced  Helen. —  31.  But  he  was 
only  trying  the  Greeks;  he  was  secretly  plotting  the  destruction  of 
Paris  and  the  Trojans.  Diomedes,  in  the  same  spirit  as  in  I  32  ff., 
will  hear  nothing  of  it.  Hereupon  Calchas  reminds  them  that  he  has 
already  (B  322  ff.)  foretold  the  destruction  of  Troy  in  the  tenth  year, 
and  bids  send  Odysseus  and  Diomedes  to  Scyrus  to  bring  Neoptole- 
mus.  Odysseus  is  ready.  Menelaus  offers  gifts  and  his  daughter 
Hermione  to  Neoptolemus.  One  thinks  of  Agamemnon's  offer  to 
Achilles  in  I.  After  banqueting,  Odysseus  and  Diomedes  put  to  sea, 
the  various  details  of  the  Homeric  "run"  being  reproduced  in  other 
language. — 113. 

The  Trojans  remain  in  their  town.  To  their  aid  comes  Eurypylus, 
grandson  of  both  Heracles  and  Priam,  followed  by  many  Ceteians. 
Paris  entertains  him.  Helen,  attended  by  servants,  comes  into  the 
hall  and  holds  converse  with  her  guest,  as  she  did  with  Telemachus  in 
Sparta.  The  Ceteians  and  Trojans  bivouac  before  the  walls.  The 
fires  burn,  the  musical  instruments  sound.  The  Greeks  are  aroused  to 
all-night  watchfulness.  This  borrows  from  similar  scenes  in  the  Iliad, 
e.  g.,  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  book. — 179.  Eurypylus  sleeps  in  the 
house  of  Paris.  The  next  morning  he  is  early  on  the  field.  His 
armor,  the  divine  armor  of  Heracles,  is  described- — the  shield  at  great 
length,  but  with  much  more  definiteness  and  simplicity  than  are  found 
in  the  Hesiodic  prototype.1  When  Eurypylus  is  equipped,  Paris 
declares  him  the  best  man,  Greek  or  Trojan,  he  ever  saw.  Quintus  is 
putting  up  a  figure  for  Neoptolemus  to  bowl  over.  Success,  says 
Eurypylus,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  gods,  but  only  death  can  keep  him 
from  conquering. —  314.  Battle  is  soon  joined  in  Homeric  fashion, 
illustrated  by  a  number  of  similes.  Eurypylus  slays  the  handsome 
Nireus  and  Machaon,  and  exults  overweeningly.    The  dying  Machaon, 

iKehmptzow,  op.  cit.,  p.  61,  and  Noack,  op.  cit.,  p.  783,  think  that  Quintus  is  not  here  writing 
with  a  work  of  art  before  him.  Perhaps  this  is  right,  if  they  only  mean  that  Quintus  never  saw  a  shield 
such  as  he  describes.  But  Quintus  had  probably  seen  artistic  representations  of  the  Works  of  Heracles, 
and  writes  with  them  in  mind. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  55 

after  Patroclus  (II  843),  predicts  the  death  of  his  slayer.  Teucer  tries 
to  rally  the  Greeks  to  rescue  the  dead.  Podaleirius,  maddened  by  the 
death  of  his  brother,  slays  Cleitus  and  Lasus,  the  circumstances  of 
whose  birth  give  occasion  for  a  description  of  a  cave  of  the  nymphs  in 
Paphlagonia,  after  v  102  ff.  At  length  the  bodies  are  rescued  and 
carried  to  the  ships.  Quintus,  like  Homer,  is  unwilling  to  leave  a 
dead  Greek  in  the  hands  of  the  Trojans. 

In  every  other  part  of  the  field  the  Greeks  are  defeated,  except 
around  Ajax  and  the  Atreidse.  Valiant  deeds  of  the  Atreidae  follow. 
—  598.  At  last  even  they  make  for  the  ships.  Eurypylus  follows,  as 
did  Hector;  cf.  the  simile,  1.  61  iff.,  with  O  579.  Quintus  could  not 
tell  how  many  Eurypylus  slew,  not  even  if  he  had  an  iron  heart;  cf. 
B  489.  Another  Homeric  touch  in  this  battle  is  a  dying  man's  heart 
which  shakes  the  shaft  of  the  spear  that  has  pierced  it,  1.  637;  cf.  N  442. 
Only  night  saves  the  ships;  cf.  the  close  of©.  The  Trojans  encamp 
on  the  plain.     The  Greeks  lament  their  dead. —  651. 

Homeric  similes  are:  the  yoke  of  oxen  (N  701),  1.  107;  winds  on 
sea  (A  295,  N  795),  1.  330;  fallen  olive  (P  53),  1.  377;  bull  slain  by 
lion  (A  172),  1.  410;  dogs  following  game  (O  579),  1.  611. 

BOOK    VII. 

On  the  morrow  the  Greeks  bury  Nireus,  the  fairest  of  the  Greeks 
(B  671),  and  Machaon.  Podaleirius,  greatly  grieved,  is  kept  by  his 
friends  from  killing  himself.  Nestor,  in  a  long,  sententious  speech, 
attributes  everything  to  Fate,  adapting  the  story  of  the  jars  in  CI  527. 

The  battle  again  rages  on  the  plain.  The  renewed  courage  of  the 
Greeks  is  not  accounted  for.  Eurypylus  routs  the  enemy,  but  the 
body  of  Peneleos  is  rescued  and  carried  to  the  ships.  As  before  noted, 
Quintus  considers  it  an  unpardonable  departure  from  Homer  to  allow 
a  Greek  hero's  body  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The 
Greeks  man  their  walls  and  are  saved  from  destruction  by  the  inter- 
vention of  Athene. — 147.  The  fight  continues  day  after  day.  But 
even  so,  Eurypylus  grants  a  truce  of  two  days  for  the  burial  of  the 
dead — a  truce  even  more  inexcusable  than  that  in  H  406  ff.  Quintus 
wants  time  for  the  return  of  the  boat  from  Scyrus. — 168. 

Odysseus  and  Diomedes  reach  Scyrus.  Neoptolemus  on  the  shore, 
hurling  spears,  asks  them  the  usual  questions  put  to  strangers  in  the 
Odyssey.  They  remain  all  night,  and  next  morning  return  with  Neop- 
tolemus, who  is  painted  as  the  ne  phis  ultra  of  youthful  excellence. 
Homeric  is  his  sentiment,  1.  289,  that  no   one  dies  contrary  to  fate 


56  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

(Z  487).  Homeric  likewise  are  the  details  of  the  ship's  putting  to  sea. 
Amphitrite,  however — not  Apollo,  as  in  A  479  —  gives  the  prosperous 
voyage.— 383. 

The  ship  reaches  the  Greek  camp  when  Eurypylus  is  on  the  point 
of  taking  the  walls  —  a  situation  somewhat  similar  to  that  at  the  end  of 
O.  Diomedes  leaps  from  the  ship  and  rallies  the  Greeks.  Then,  in 
Odysseus's  tent,  Diomedes  dons  the  armor  of  Socus,  slain  but  not 
spoiled  by  Odysseus  (A  446  ff.),  Neoptolemus  that  of  his  father,  Odys- 
seus his  own. — 452.  The  appearance  of  Neoptolemus  is  described  at 
length.  He  goes  forth  to  the  plain  with  great  prowess.  The  others 
go  to  meet  Eurypylus,  who  keeps  the  Trojans  facing  the  enemy.  At 
length  Eurypylus  breaks  the  wall  with  a  stone ;  cf.  Hector's  deed, 
M  445.  His  entrance  is  disputed.  He  threatens  the  Greeks  with 
instant  death,  not  knowing  that  his  own  is  near.  The  Trojans  believe 
that  Neoptolemus  is  Achilles,  so  valiantly  does  he  fight.  Athene 
comes  from  heaven,  somewhat  as  in  A  73  ff.,  to  see  the  fray.  She  is 
pleased  with  Neoptolemus,  whose  valiant  deeds  continue  until  night- 
fall— (3ov\vt6<;.  The  Trojans  encamp  on  the  plain. —  630.  Neoptole- 
mus is  welcomed  by  Phoenix  in  a  speech  containing  matter  from  his 
speeches  in  the  Iliad,  by  Agamemnon  and  others  who  glory  in  his 
appearance,  and  by  the  servants,  especially  by  Briseis. —  734. 

Homeric  similes  are:  the  swollen  river  (P  263),  11.  116  ff. ;  cow  and 
calf  (P  4),  11.  253  ff.;  Ares  coming  to  battle  (N  298),  1.  359;  wind  for 
sailors  (H  4),  11.  455  f.;  hunted  lion  (P  132),  11.  464  ff.;  lion  driven  from 
yard  (A  549,  P  106,  656),  11.  486  ff.;  bayed  animals  (P  132),  1.  504. 

BOOK   VIII. 

The  next  morning  the  Trojans  are  aroused  by  Eurypylus,  the 
Greeks  by  Neoptolemus.  The  latter  hero  impresses  us  as  a  rather 
presumptuous  youth.  His  chariot  is  driven  by  Automedon,  his  father's 
charioteer,  who  has  kept  the  immortal  horses  for  the  son.  All  the 
plain  is  filled  with  troops  and  dust  clouds.  The  opposing  forces  join 
battle.  This  account  is  grandiloquent.  Several  heroes  slay  their  man. 
Eurypylus  deals  destruction  to  many  of  the  enemy,  but  Antiphus, 
doomed  for  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Cyclops,  escapes.  At  length 
Eurypylus  meets  Neoptolemus.  The  usual  word-battle  ensues.  The 
fight  begins.  Eurypylus  strikes  his  opponent  with  a  stone,  but  without 
effect.  A  mighty  conflict  follows,  but,  thanks  to  a  lacuna,  we  are  spared 
some  intended  extravagance.  At  length  the  Pelian  spear  is  driven 
home  under  the  chin  of  Eurypylus,  and  he  falls  as  a  pine  or  ash.     The 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  57 

victor  makes  the  usual  vaunt,  spoils  the  foe,  and  pursues  the  Trojans, 
dealing  havoc  on  all  sides. —  236. 

The  Trojans  are  on  the  point  of  being  shut  up  in  their  walls  when 
Ares  comes,  as  in  E  460,  and  rallies  them.  Here,  however,  he  is  a 
voice,  and  does  not  assume  human  form.  In  general,  gods  in  Quintus 
are  invisible.  Helenus  reassures  the  Trojans,  remarking  that  Neop- 
tolemus  is  only  a  mortal;  cf.  3>  567.  The  balances  of  battle  become 
equal.  Single  combats  follow. — 323.  Medon,  father  of  the  slain 
Perimedes,  was  left  without  an  heir,  and  y^pwrtai  shared  his  property; 
cf.  E  1 58.  The  other  Greeks  flee.  Neoptolemus  knows  no  fear;  he 
slays  his  thousands ;  he  is  more  mighty  than  Diomedes  in  E.  Ares  is 
ready  to  slay  him,  but  is  checked  by  Athene.  Then  both  divinities,  as 
in  E,  withdraw  from  the  field.  The  Trojans  are  routed  and  seek  safety 
in  their  town  —  368  —  where  they  man  tower  and  wall  built  by  Poseidon. 
Only  the  prayer  of  Ganymedes  to  Zeus  saves  the  town  from  present 
destruction.  Zeus  covers  the  city  with  clouds  and  hurls  thunderbolts. 
Darkness  is  a  device  borrowed  from  P  366.  Nestor,  as  in  ©  140  ff., 
advises  retreat,  urging  respect  for  the  behests  of  Zeus ;  cf.  especially 
11.  471,  472  with  0  141,  142.  The  Greeks  again  honor  Neoptolemus, 
and  at  nightfall  set  pickets,  in  dreadful  fear  that  the  Trojans  will  burn 
their  ships.  There  is  some  reason  for  fear  at  the  beginning  of  I; 
there  is  none  here.  But  Quintus  must  imitate  Homer.  The  Trojans 
also  set  watches. — 504. 

Homeric  similes  are:  wasps  and  travelers  (M  167,  II  259),  1.  39; 
waves  of  war  (A  422,  II  765),  1.  59;  fire  in  thicket  (A  155,  O  605), 
1.  90;  fight  of  wild  animals  over  carcass  (II  757),  1.  176;  falling  tree 
(A  482,  etc.),  1.  204;  cliff  (oak  in  Iliad)  resisting  wind  (O  617,  M  131), 
1.  338;    shepherd  and  storm  (A  275),  1.  379. 

BOOK   IX. 

On  the  morrow  the  Trojans,  believing  that  Neoptolemus  is  Achilles, 
still  living,  will  not  leave  the  city.  Antenor  prays  for  delivery  or 
speedy  cessation  of  trouble.  The  latter  part  of  his  prayer  is  to  be 
granted.  Zeus  was  to  give  glory  to  Neoptolemus. —  29.  The  Greeks 
and  Trojans  strike  another  truce  for  the  burial  of  the  dead.  Neop- 
tolemus makes  lament  at  the  stele  of  his  father. 

Deiphobus  exhorts  the  Trojans  to  battle,  which  is  joined  in  the 
usual  way.  The  Trojan  women  watch  from  the  towers,  but  Helen, 
ashamed  to  be  seen,  remains  at  home.  This  contrasts  strikingly  with 
her  conduct  in  V.     Deiphobus  performs  deeds  of  valor. — 179.     Neop- 


58  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

tolemus  slays  multitudes.  He  strikes  (Enops  on  the  throat  where 
death  comes  easiest  to  men;  cf.  X  325. —  202.  At  length  he  meets 
Deiphobus.  Automedon  tells  him  that  Deiphobus  feared  Achilles. 
Neoptolemus  challenges  Deiphobus,  and  is  ready  to  strike  him  when 
Apollo  veils  Deiphobus  in  a  mist  and  carries  him  to  Troy.  Neop- 
tolemus strikes  the  air  and  upbraids  Deiphobus  as  a  coward  saved  by  a 
god.  The  whole  account  is  modeled  after  the  rescue  of  Hector  from 
Achilles  in  Y  430  ff.  Neoptolemus  drives  all  before  him.  Some  of 
the  Trojans  fight  from  the  wall,  some  on  the  plain. —  290.  Apollo 
leaps  from  Olympus  to  aid  the  Trojans.  Poseidon  gives  courage  to 
the  Greeks.  The  battle  is  equal.  Apollo  is  angered,  and  kept  from 
killing  Neoptolemus  only  by  Poseidon's  threat  of  engulfing  Troy.  The 
gods  leave  the  field. —  323.  The  fight  continues  until,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Calchas,  the  Greeks  withdraw.  For  it  was  not  fated  that  Troy  be 
taken  until  Philoctetes  come  from  Lemnos. — 332.  This  sudden  turn 
has  been  justly  rebuked  by  Koechly. 

The  Atreidae  dispatch  Diomedes  and  Odysseus  to  Lemnos  after 
Philoctetes.  Through  the  intervention  of  Athene,  Philoctetes  is  per- 
suaded to  go  to  Troy. — 425.  The  account  of  the  voyagers'  putting  to 
sea,  of  the  forwarding  breeze  sent  by  Athene,  and  of  the  course  of  the 
ship  through  the  waves  is  suggestive  of  the  account  in  A.  Philoctetes 
on  his  arrival  at  Troy  is  quickly  healed  by  Podaleirius  and  becomes  the 
man  he  was  before  the  snake  bit  him. — 479.  He  is  feasted  and  wel- 
comed by  Agamemnon.  Many  presents  are  given  him. — 479.  He 
goes  early  to  bed,  and  next  morning  leads  the  Trojans  to  battle. — 546. 

Homeric  similes  are:  Ares  going  to  battle  (N  298,  X  131),  1.  218; 
swine  and  lion  (II  823),  1.  240;  wave  and  sailors  (O  624),  1.  270; 
drying  corn  field  (3>  346),  1.  473. 

book  x. 

The  Trojans  are  again  outside  the  city,  apparently  for  no  other 
reason  than  to  get  themselves  killed  by  Quintus's  heroes.  Polydamas, 
however,  true  to  his  Homeric  character,  tries  to  persuade  them  to 
remain  in  the  city.  ^Eneas  is  of  another  opinion,  which  prevails. 
— 44.  Zeus  arouses  their  courage,  for  Paris  is  to  perish  that  day. — 52. 
Deimos,  Phobos,  and  Eris  bring  together  the  opposing  hosts.  The 
passage  as  a  whole  is  a  close  imitation  of  A  440  ff.- — 73.  ^Eneas  slays 
several,  Neoptolemus  a  Homeric  dozen. —  96.  Eurymenes  performs 
great  deeds,  only  to  perish.  vEneas  slays  two  Greeks  who  strive  to 
spoil  the  body. — 117.     Single  combats  follow.     Ajax  strikes  Scylaceus, 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  59 

who  was  destined  to  live  until  torn  to  pieces  by  Lycian  women  on  his 
return  from  the  war. — 166.  Philoctetes  deals  havoc  with  Heracles's 
weapons,  which  are  briefly  described. —  205.  An  arrow  aimed  at 
Philoctetes  by  Paris  kills  another.  Philoctetes  upbraids  Paris  as  a  dog, 
declares  that  he  will  rid  the  world  of  him,  draws  his  bow,  as  did  Pan- 
darus  (A  122  ff.),  and  wounds  him  slightly.  A  second  arrow  is  more 
effective,  and  Paris  leaves  the  combat.  Night  comes  on,  and  the 
troops  leave  the  field. —  252. 

Paris  goes  to  CEnone,  by  whom  alone  he  can  be  healed  of  his 
wound.  Perhaps  his  speech  to  her  borrows  from  that  to  Achilles  in 
I  502  ff.  She  is  unyielding,  and  sends  him  away,  not  knowing  that 
she  is  bringing  on  her  own  doom.  Hera  is  delighted  at  the  tortures 
of  Paris.  She  discusses  with  her  servants  the  coming  events  of  the 
Trojan  war  —  the  marriage  of  Helen  to  Deiphobus,  the  wrath  of 
Helenus  thereat,  and  his  departure  for  the  mountains,  where  he  is  to  be 
captured  by  the  Greeks,  and  the  rape  of  the  Palladium.  These  matters 
are  not  further  treated  in  Quintus.— 360.  Paris  gives  up  the  ghost  on 
Ida.  He  is  lamented  by  the  nymphs.  A  shepherd  carries  the  news 
to  Hecabe,  who  makes  lament.  Priam,  however,  sits  at  Hector's  tomb. 
Helen  in  a  speech  of  self-recrimination  laments  Paris. —  405.  CEnone, 
left  alone,  feels  great  sorrow  and  remorse,  and  is  driven  by  Doom  and 
Cypris  after  Paris.  Finding  him  already  on  a  pyre  kindled  by  the 
mountain  nymphs,  she  leaps  into  the  flames.  The  nymphs  wonder 
that  Paris  could  have  left  her,  a  chaste  wife,  for  the  corrupt  Helen. 
Over  the  graves  of  CEnone  and  Paris  are  placed  two  steles  back  to 
back. —  489. 

Homeric  similes  are:  swollen  stream  (A  492,  etc.),  1.  171;  thick 
as  snowflakes  (M  156,  278),  1.  247. 

BOOK    XI. 

The  Trojans  are  again  on  the  field,  since  "necessity  drove  them" — 
Quintus's  necessity.  Homeric  battle  follows.  Neoptolemus,  tineas, 
and  Philoctetes  are  the  heroes.  Polydamas  slays  Cleon  and  Euryma- 
chus,  fishermen,  whose  craft  did  not  avail  to  save  them  from  death ; 
cf.  E  53  ff.  The  fighting  continues.  Apollo  comes,  as  in  E,  and  by 
much  the  same  arguments  as  Ares  in  E  464  ff.,  urges  ^Eneas  and 
Eurymachus  to  fight  valiantly.  This  they  were  already  doing,  but 
Quintus  must  imitate  Homer.  y£neas  continues  victorious  until 
Neoptolemus  rallies  the  Greeks.  Thetis  does  not  suffer  her  grandson 
to  meet  the  son  of  Aphrodite. —  246.     A  great  dust  arises,  and  a  blind 


60  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

battle  follows  until  Zeus  drives  the  dust  away.  The  situation  is  similar 
to  that  in  P  366  ff.  At  length  Athene  comes  to  the  aid  of  the  Greeks. 
Aphrodite  snatches  ^Eneas  from  the  field,  hiding  him  in  a  fog;  cf. 
E  445  and  Y  318.     The  Trojans  flee.     Night  falls. —  329. 

On  the  next  morning  the  Greeks  return  to  the  field,  leaving  some 
to  care  for  the  wounded.  The  Trojans  man  their  walls.  Various 
heroes  are  assigned  to  different  gates,  after  the  manner  of  vEschylus's 
Sept  em. —  357.  Under  the  lead  of  Odysseus,  the  Greeks  form  a  testudo, 
perhaps  in  imitation  of  ALneid,  Book  2.  This  is  broken  by  ^Eneas, 
who  with  Ares  at  his  side  is  irresistible.  Neoptolemus  encourages  the 
Greeks. —  439.  In  another  place  Ajax  fights  valiantly.  His  follower, 
Alcimedon,  while  trying  to  scale  the  wall  is  felled  by  ^Eneas. —  473. 
An  arrow  aimed  at  ^Eneas  by  Philoctetes  is  turned  aside  by  Aphrodite 
and  hits  Mimas.  Philoctetes  begs  /Eneas  to  leave  the  wall  and  fight 
on  even  terms,     ^Eneas  does  not  answer. —  501. 

Homeric  similes  are:  swine  pursued  by  dogs  (0  338,  P  722), 
1.  170;  hawk  and  starlings  (P  755),  1.  217;  waves  of  war  (N  795), 
1.  228;  snowflakes  (M  156,  278,  O  170),  1.  265. 

BOOK    XII. 

Calchas  assembles  the  Greeks  and  bids  them  desist  from  warfare, 
for  he  has  seen  an  omen  that  indicates  Troy  can  be  taken  only  in  some 
other  way. —  20.  Odysseus,  following  the  suggestion  of  the  omen, 
bids  them  adopt  the  ruse  of  the  Trojan  horse,  and  outlines  a  plan  that 
is  followed. —  45;  cf.  6  493,494.  Calchas  approves  the  plan  and 
urges  expedition. —  65.  Neoptolemus  is  for  open  war;  so  is  Philoctetes. 
They  desist  from  taking  the  field  only  when  checked  by  the  thunder- 
bolts of  Zeus. — 103.  Thunderbolts  were  used  in  the  Iliad  to  frighten 
refractory  heroes  (0  133).  Athene  comes  at  night  from  heaven  and 
teaches  Epeius  [cf.  6  493)  how  to  build  the  horse.  The  details  of  the 
building  are  told. — 156. 

In  the  meantime  the  gods  come  from  heaven  and  begin  battle,  but 
Zeus  comes  back  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  in  great  power,  and 
quickly  effects  reconciliation. —  213.  Quintus  is  here  giving  a  repro- 
duction of  the  Homeric  theomachy.  Only  Ares  and  Athene  come  to 
blows.     The  description  of  Zeus  suggests  the  18th  Psalm. —  213. 

Odysseus  proposes  that  the  best  men  enter  the  horse,  and  the 
others  sail  to  Tenedos,  leaving  someone  to  persuade  the  Trojans  to 
receive  the  horse  into  their  city.  For  this  last  Sinon  volunteers  and  is 
applauded. —  258.     Nestor  harps  on  his  age,  but  is  eager  to  enter  the 


STYLE    OF    QU1NTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  6 1 

horse.  Neoptolemus  will  not  allow  this  and  is  the  first  to  volunteer. 
This  seems  to  glance  at  X  505  ff.  Nestor  is  greatly  pleased,  and 
declares  that  evil  is  easy  to  attain,  glory  difficult;  cf.  Hesiod,  Op.,  285. 
The  Greeks  arm  themselves. —  305. 

Here  Quintus  invokes  the  Muses,  as  Homer  (B  484  ff.),  to  tell  the 
names  of  the  heroes.  Apollonius  Rhodius  had  made  a  like  invocation. 
He  gives  the  names  of  heroes  who  enter  the  horse.  The  rest  of  the 
Greeks  under  Agamemnon  and  Nestor  sail  to  Tenedos  and  wait  for 
the  fire  signal. —  349.  The  Trojans  see  the  burning  camp  and  come 
forth.  They  find  Sinon  and  torture  him.  He  is  steadfast  and  tells  the 
same  story  as  in  Virgil's  ALneid.  Some  believe  him  ;  others  regard  him 
as  a  cheat.  Laocoon  is  for  burning  the  horse.  He  would  have  pre- 
vailed had  not  Athene  blinded  him  and  inflicted  dreadful  tortures 
upon  him.  The  people  no  longer  hesitate,  and  proceed  to  draw  in  the 
horse  through  the  broken  wall. —  443.  Laocoon  follows,  urging  still 
the  destruction  of  the  horse.  Athene  sends  serpents,  which  crush  and 
swallow  the  two  sons  of  Laocoon,  and  then  enter  the  ground  under 
the  temple  of  Apollo.  The  Trojans  make  a  cenotaph  for  the  boys. 
This  must  have  been  hurried  work. —  497.  Banqueting  follows.  The 
omens  are  of  the  worst. —  524.  Cassandra,  unheeded,  rages  and  pre- 
dicts the  doom  of  Troy. —  551.  In  this  book  there  is  much  borrowing 
from  Virgil. 

Homeric  similes  are:  the  wounded  lioness  (Y  164),  1.  530;  the 
retreating  leopard  (<&  573),  1.  580. 

BOOK    XIII. 

The  Trojans  are  buried  in  slumber  and  drunkenness.  Sinon  raises 
the  fire  signal  for  the  Greeks  to  sail  from  Tenedos,  and  calls  out  those 
in  the  horse. —  60.  Those  from  Tenedos  steal  into  the  city  and  find  it 
full  of  gore.  The  details  of  the  slaughter  are  given. — 144.  Greeks  as 
well  as  Trojans  suffer.  Diomedes  kills  Coroebus  before  he  got  joy 
from  his  marriage — what  marriage  Quintus  forgets  to  tell  us — for 
which  he  had  come  the  day  before  to  Troy.  Next  Diomedes  slays  the 
aged  Uioneus,  who  begs  piteously  for  his  life. —  202.  Neoptolemus 
slays  Polites,  as  Polites  charges  upon  him,  and  turns  to  Priam  sitting 
on  the  altar.  The  old  man  begs  for  death,  regretting  that  Achilles 
did  not  slay  him  when  he  went  to  ransom  Hector.  His  request  is 
granted  by  Neoptolemus. —  250.  The  Greeks  throw  Astyanax  from  the 
wall,  remembering  the  woes  Hector  caused  them.  Andromache  is 
frantic  and  begs  for  death,  rehearsing  her  woes  from  the  beginning, 


62  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

imitating  her  former  speech  on  Hector's  death  (X476  ff.;  ^/".especially 
11.  275  ff.  with  X  476-86).  Antenor,  because  he  entertained  Menelaus 
and  Odysseus  (r  203  ff.),  is  spared. —  299.  After  fighting  much, 
/Eneas,  bearing  his  father  and  leading  his  son,  leaves  the  city.  Calchas 
restrains  the  Greeks  from  throwing  their  missiles,  and  prophesies  a 
glorious  future  for  /Eneas  and  his  line. —  349.  Menelaus,  after  a  speech 
in  which  he  refers  to  his  duel  with  Paris,  slays  Deiphobus.  Next  he 
finds  Helen  and  though  eager  to  slay  her,  is  checked  by  Aphrodite. 
Agamemnon  reminds  him  that  the  blame  rests,  not  on  Helen,  but  on 
Paris,  who  violated  the  laws  of  hospitality  ;  cf.  T  164.  Troy  is  covered 
with  a  cloud.  All  the  gods  lament,  except  Hera  and  Athene,  who,  as 
in  Y  313  ff.,  are  unrelenting.  But  Athene  is  angered  by  violence 
offered  in  her  temple  by  Ajax  to  Cassandra. —  429.  All  the  city, 
Antenor's  and  ^Eneas's  houses  burn  down. —  437.  More  details  of  the 
sack  follow.  An  aside  reminds  us  that  it  was  all  due  to  Fate. —  497. 
Demophon  and  Acamas  find  and  recognize  their  grandmother  ./Ethra. 

—  543.  The  earth  yawns  to  receive  the  praying  Laodice,  the  daughter 
of  Priam,  on  whose  account  one  of  the  Pleiads  veiled  its  face.  For 
the  third  time  we  are  told  that   Troy's  downfall  was  owing  to  Fate. 

—  563- 

Homeric  similes  are  :  the  hungry  wolf,  11.  44  ff.,  perhaps  after  II  352; 

wasps  (M  167,  II  259),  1.  54;  eagles  and  cranes  (O  690),  1.  103; 
sheep  and  wolves  (II  352),  1.  133;  waves  (A  422),  1.  480;  fire  in 
forest  (A  155,  O  605),  1.  488. 

BOOK  xiv. 

The  next  morning  the  Greeks  come  with  their  booty  and  captives 
to  the  ships.  Menelaus  leads  Helen  ;  Agamemnon,  Cassandra;  Neop- 
tolemus,  Andromache ;  Odysseus,  Hecabe.  Helen  alone  is  free  from 
lamentation.  She  blushes  for  shame  even  as  Cypris  when  caught  with 
Ares.  Her  beauty  is  dwelt  on,  as  in  T  154  ff. — 70.  Xanthus  and  the 
Nymphs  lament  the  fall  of  Troy.  —  84.  The  Greeks  celebrate  their 
victory  with  singing.  Again  we  are  told  that  Fate  was  the  cause  of  all. 
— 100.  The  Greeks  feast,  offering  sacrifice  and  libation,  and  pray 
Zeus  for  safe  return,  which  Zeus  was  not  to  give. — 121.  Here  comes 
a  lacuna.  Someone  is  singing  the  events  of  the  war  from  beginning 
to  end. — 142.  At  midnight  they  go  to  rest.  Menelaus  has  a  long 
talk  with  his  wife,  which  has  some  points  in  common  with  Odysseus's 
talk  with  Penelope  (\p  300  ff.). — 178.  When  sleep  has  fallen  upon  all, 
a  vision  of  his  father  appears  to  Neoptolemus,  and  makes  a  long  speech 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  63 

full  of  much  advice  and  sentiment.  In  it  is  an  imitation  of  oirj-n-ep 
(f>v\Xu)v  yeverj  (Z  146).  Finally  he  bids  his  son,  under  threat  of  a 
detaining  storm,  sacrifice  Polyxena  at  his  tomb.  Then  he  goes  to  the 
Elysian  Fields. —  227.  On  the  morrow  Neoptolemus  makes  known  the 
behests  of  his  father.  The  sea  becomes  furious.  The  Greeks  pray  to 
Achilles  as  to  a  god.  Polyxena  is  brought.  Hecabe  remembers  a 
dream,  varied  somewhat  from  that  in  the  Hecabe  of  Euripides.  Neop- 
tolemus, unflinching,  makes  a  prayer  to  his  father  and  slays  Polyxena. 
The  Greeks  kindly  give  her  body  to  the  surviving  Trojans  for  burial. 
The  storm  of  the  sea  is  laid.  —  328.  The  Greeks  go  to  the  shore,  and 
offer  sacrifice  and  libation  to  the  gods.  Nestor  urges  hasty  sail. — 345. 
Hecabe  is  transformed  into  a  dog  and  petrified.  The  Greeks  prepare 
for  embarkation  and  pour  libations  into  the  sea. —  382.  The  sorrow- 
ing Trojan  women  are  mocked  by  Cassandra. — 398.  The  Trojans 
bury  their  dead. — 402.  The  Greeks  set  sail.  Athene,  angry  with 
Ajax,  goes  to  Zeus  and  prays  for  vengeance.  He  supplies  her  with 
his  thunderbolts,  and  sends  Iris  to  ^Eolus  to  bid  him  set  free  the  winds. 
There  follows  a  long  description  of  the  storm,  in  which  Ajax  perishes. 
— 628.  Athene  is  sorry  for  Odysseus  who  is  to  suffer  woes  at  the  hands 
of  Poseidon  — one  of  the  earliest  themes  of  the  Odyssey,  Poseidon  and 
Apollo  are  busy  destroying  the  Greek  walls  —  wherein  Quintus,  as  has 
already  been  observed,  follows  closely  M  1-33.  The  Greeks  scattered 
by  the  storm,  sail  here  and  there  as  a  god  directs — as  many  as  survived 
the  storm. — 658.  We  are  now  on  the  borders  of  the  Odyssey;  and 
here  our  author  leaves  us. 

There  is  only  one  Homeric  simile  in  this  book  (Z  146),  I.  207. 

IX.       GENERAL    SUMMARY    OF    STYLE. 

We  have  found  that  for  the  most  part  Quintus  is  an  imitative  poet. 
The  incidents  of  his  poem  are  borrowed  from  older  poems.  He 
imitates  Homer  in  vocabulary,  dialect,  phrases,  motifs,  characters,  epi- 
sodes, and  similes.  He  has  used  matter  from  Euripides,  the  Alexan- 
drines, and  the  Latin  poets.  He  is  perhaps  original  in  many  of  his 
similes,  in  some  of  his  religious  ideas,  and  in  his  fine  descriptions  of 
nature. 

A  poem  that  imitates  a  poem  written  a  thousand  years  before  will 
naturally  have  some  faults  on  that  account.  Some  of  these,  as  seen  in 
Quintus,  are  lack  of  variety,  bookishness,  undue  striving  for  effect,  and 
general  dearth  of  ideas.  Quintus  could  not  reconceive  the  Homeric 
world  in  its  completeness.     He  was  under  the  necessity,  then,  of  con- 


64  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

stantly  reproducing  that  part  of  it  which  he  clearly  conceived.  He 
knew  a  chariot  and  a  ship,  but  his  imagination  could  not  body  forth 
the  various  parts  of  a  chariot  or  ship  as  seen  by  Homer.  His  epithets 
are  not,  as  in  Homer,  genuine  expressions  of  some  quality;  their 
constant  and  indiscriminate  use  adds  much  to  the  monotony  of  the 
poem,  and  at  the  same  time  gives  it  a  bookish  and  insipid  flavor.1  His 
sentences  also  show  a  sameness  of  structure.  He  uses  ad  nauseam 
introductions  such  as  dAA'  ore  S77  followed  by  St)  totc.  His  sentences 
are  short  and  simple  and  show  only  one  face.  After  a  while  the 
reader  tires  of  aXXoOev  aAAos,  but  Quintus  never  does.  This  same  lack 
of  variety  is  seen  in  the  incidents  of  the  poem.  After  reading  of  one 
burial,  one  set  of  mourners'  laments,  one  description  of  a  shield,  one 
conflict  between  the  mightiest  champions,  and  of  a  few  heroes  who  slay 
a  7rovAw  o/xlXov,  the  reader  wearies  of  such  things,  especially  when  he 
remembers  that  these  things,  so  often  repeated  in  Quintus,  are  told 
at  first  hand  in  Homer  entirely  free  from  bookishness,  with  the  freshness 
and  vividness  that  come  from  an  eyewitness. 

For  these  faults  Quintus  seeks  to  atone  by  his  intensity  and  rhe- 
torical expression.  His  poem  shows  some  of  the  features  of  Seneca's 
tragedies.  There  are  constant  emphasis  and  embellishment,  which  in 
consequence  become  ineffectual.  He  also  uses  other  rhetorical  tricks, 
such  as  balanced  structure,  an  example  of  which  may  be  seen  in 
7.  632  ff.: 

d/jL(pl  5Y  ot  p.4ya  x<*/>Ma  Ka'  dcirerov  SXyos  'Uavev, 
&\yo$  /xiv  \xvy\aQkvri  iroSw/ceos  d/x0'  'Ax'XtJos, 
X&pfia  5'  dp"1  ovvetcd  oi  uparepov  iratS'  elaep&rjffe  • 
/cXcue  5'  6  7'  dcriracrlws,  iwel  oijirore  c/>0\'  avdpwwwv 
v6<r<pi  y6ov  fcioucri,  /cat  et  wore  x^PP-a  <f>fyovrai. 

The  speeches  in  the  07rAwv  /ceteris,  Book  V,  show  an  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  art  of  speech-writing  after  the  models  of  the  Athenian 
rhetoricians — another  evidence  that  Quintus  was  a  very  wide-read 
man.  An  example  of  rhetorical  narration  and  description  is  that  of 
the  shipwreck  in  Book  XIV. 

Again,  constant  striving  for  Homeric  coloring  has  lead  Quintus  into 
some  absurdities.  Penthesileia  has  a  dream  to  make  her  eager  for 
battle,  although  she  had  come  to  Troy  for  that  very  purpose.  The 
Greeks,  after  driving  the  Trojans  with  sore  defeat  into  their  city,  guard 
their  own  walls  with  dreadful  fear  of  surprise  by  the  Trojans. 

1  It  is  doubtful  whether  Quintus  distinguished  any  difference  of  meaning  in  such  words  as  <cpaT€pds, 
o0pi/uos,  fieyaAdcppcoi',  Kpa.Tep6<j>ptov  9pa<rv<ppu>v,  ipidvp.os,  6|3pi/x6flvp.os,  ev7rrdAe p-os ,  p.eya.dvp.os,  p.eve- 
TTToAf^tos,  etc. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  6$ 

Imitation  of  Homer  was  not  altogether  a  loss  to  our  poet.  From 
it  he  gained  simplicity  and  directness  of  statement,  fidelity  to  Homeric 
manners  and  customs,  and  to  the  characters  of  the  Homeric  heroes, 
beauty  of  incident,  beauty  of  motif,  and  beauty  of  simile.  To  this  is 
also  due  the  musical  flow  of  Quintus's  verse.  He  also  generally  avoids 
Alexandrine  erudition,  and  prolix  and  fanciful  narrations. 

In  point  of  taste  Ouintus  deserves  some  praise.  He  omits  many 
things  found  in  the  Cyclics,  such  as  Achilles's  purification  from  blood- 
guiltiness  ;  he  steers  clear  of  Alexandrine  romanticism.  A  case  in  point 
is  the  story  of  Polyxena,  which  shows  no  trace  of  the  erotic  element, 
but  follows  an  account  more  in  accord  with  Homeric  manners.  Some- 
times, however,  where  there  is  no  Homeric  guide-post,  Quintus  goes 
astray.  The  death  of  Laocoon's  sons,  the  story  of  Hecabe's  metamor- 
phosis, and  the  lengthy  description  of  the  shipwreck  and  despair  of 
the  Greeks  are  too  horrible  for  Homer. 

In  his  management  of  his  material  Quintus  also  shows  a  good  sense 
of  proportion.  He  so  arranges  the  minor  events  that  the  main  matter 
in  hand  shall  receive  the  greater  emphasis.  In  his  episodes  of  Penthe- 
sileia  and  Memnon  this  is  admirably  managed.  Sometimes  this  leads 
him  to  change  the  traditional  order.  Thus  he  buries  Antilochus  before 
the  death  of  Achilles,  not  because  he  was  following  an  unknown  source, 
as  some  believe,  but  because  he  saw  that  the  old  order  broke  into  the 
natural  development  of  the  death  and  burial  of  the  great  hero. 

Unity  of  plot  has  been  denied  Ouintus.  But  he  has  made  an  effort 
to  secure  unity,  and  has  done  as  well  as  his  intractable  material  would 
allow.  The  whole  poem  centers  around  Achilles  and  his  son,  Neop- 
tolemus.  The  latter  is  Quintus's  hero.  The  opening  books  prepare 
for  him.  Before  Achilles's  death  we  have  prophecies  of  his  coming  to 
assume  the  role  of  his  father  (3.  120,  169).  After  the  funeral  games 
for  Achilles,  he  is  sent  for,  and  comes  on  the  scene  just  in  time  to 
save  the  ships  from  burning.  From  this  time  on  he  is  the  chief  figure, 
is  ever  foremost  in  the  conflict,  and  continually  speaks  sentiments 
befitting  youthful  valor  and  modesty.  He  shows  a  pious  regard  for 
his  father's  memory,  and  is  in  all  respects  a  model  of  youthful  man- 
hood. He  slays  the  mighty  Eurypylus,  repeatedly  drives  the  Trojans 
into  their  city,  and  when  seen  strikes  terror  into  the  enemy.  When 
the  Trojan  horse  is  proposed,  he  is  for  open  war,  yet  is  the  first  to 
enter  its  caverns,  and  is  the  hero  of  the  sack  of  Troy,  Agamemnon 
himself  sinking  into  the  background.  His  slaughter  of  Priam  and 
Polyxena  is    defended  with   all    the    rhetoric  of  which   Ouintus   was 


66  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

master.  Again,  that  Neoptolemus  was  designed  as  the  hero  will 
become  evident  from  another  consideration.  Quintus  has  changed 
the  order  of  the  Cyclics  and  brought  him  upon  the  scene  before 
Philoctetes.  Having  designed  Neoptolemus  for  his  hero,  he  saw  well 
that  he  should  make  his  entrance  as  soon  as  possible.  To  delay 
his  appearance  until  Philoctetes  had  played  his  part  would  be  fatal. 
When  Philoctetes  finally  comes,  he  plays  only  a  subordinate  part, 
whereas  the  attention  of  the  reader  is  fixed  early  upon  Neoptolemus 
as  the  hope  of  the  Greeks,  and  that  young  hero  from  the  time  of  his 
arrival  until  the  departure  from  Troy  is  the  central  figure.  With  his 
great  amount  of  intractable  material  Quintus  has  shown  no  little  art 
in  keeping  the  general  interest  so  well  centered  around  this  son  of 
Achilles. 

This  leads  us  to  a  general  estimate  of  Quintus  as  a  poet.  On  the 
one  hand,  he  lacks  originality,  is  guilty  of  the  most  serious  and  con- 
stant plagiarism  and  imitation  ;  he  seeks  to  atone  for  his  poverty  of 
ideas  by  a  sounding  and  colorless  rhetoric;  he  uses  much  too  pro- 
fusely the  embellishments  of  sententious  sayings  and  similes;  and 
shows  some  absurdities  of  plot.  On  the  other  hand,  he  has  kept  close 
to  Homeric  diction  and  rhythm  ;  in  his  choice  of  matter  he  shows 
excellent  taste  in  discarding  much  of  the  Cyclic  material  which  was 
not  true  to  Homeric  types ;  he  deserves  our  thanks  for  having  given 
his  poem  such  unity  as  was  possible,  for  some  beautiful  and  pathetic 
episodes  and  for  many  admirable  similes,  and,  in  general,  for  preserving 
to  us  in  a  work  of  moderate  length  the  chief  events  of  the  interval 
between  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey. 

Scholars  and  literary  critics  who  have  become  familiar  with  Quintus 
have  usually  considered  him  a  poet  of  considerable  merit.  Koechly 
was  of  a  different  opinion.     Some  of  these  estimates  are  as  follows : 

rod  '0/j.tjpiKov  Kotvrov. — Life  of  Cohithits. 

ovSev  TTJs  avrov  VOfi-qpov]  irepl  rb  iroteTv  5eiv6r7ir6s  re  Kal  e&<pvlas  AiriXiire,  uxxre 
ehcu  'irepov  a\rj0u>s  "0/xr)pov  airrbv  <pdvai.—  Rhodomann,  quoted  by  Tychsen. 

"  Sein  Gedicht  unter  den  uns  noch  ubrigen  epischen  Gedichten  der 
Griechen  nach  dem  Homer  das  beste  ist." — Gottfried  Hermann,  Opuscula, 
VIII,  p.  24. 

Quod  ad  inventionem  et  summam  carminis  attinet  parum  laudandus  est 
noster;  poeta  alias  tamen  virtutes  habet  haud  exiguas." — Tychsen,  Comnten- 
tatio,  II,  7. 

"  Quinto  fere  nihil,  quo  ad  veri  poetae  dignitatem  evehatur,  relinqui 
potest."— Koechly,  Prolegomena,  p.  xcix. 


STYLE    OF    QUINTUS    AS    RELATED    TO    HOMER  67 

"  II  est  inutile  d'annoncer  qu'il  n'a  ni  le  feu  ni  l'entrainement  d'Homere ; 
mais  s'il  est  n^cessairement  vaincu  en  talent,  il  s'est  assez  inspire"  et  impregne" 
de  son  esprit  pour  conserver  le  naturel.  II  offre  a  chaque  instant  (je  parle 
de  ses  meilleurs  livres)  des  comparaisons  po£tiques  et  charmantes,  et  des 
mouvements  d'affection  et  de  sensibility.  En  un  mot,  c'est  un  poete,  et  on 
ne  perdra  pas  sa  peine,  on  ne  plaindra  pas  son  temps  a  le  lire  et  a  l'dtudier." 
—  Sainte-Beuve,  Etude  sur  Quintus. 

"  Quintus  of  Smyrna  is  a  poet  of  merit,  but  certainly  not  a  poet  of  a  high 
order." — Matthew  Arnold,  On  Translating  Homer,  p.  270. 

"  Quintus  has  the  epic  diction,  the  epic  instrument,  but  Mr.  Arnold  does 
not  claim  for  him  'the  grand  manner,'  though  he  calls  Quintus  'a  poet  of 
merit'  as  he  certainly  is."— Andrew  Lang,  Hotner  and  the  Epic,  p.  151,  note. 

"And  read  a  Grecian  tale  re-told, 
Which,  cast  in  later  Grecian  mould, 

Quintus  Calaber 
Somewhat  lazily  handled  of  old." 

— Tennyson,  Death  of  GLnone. 


IV.  SOURCES. 

I.   INTRODUCTORY. 

In  recent  years  have  appeared  two  noteworthy  discussions  of  the 
Sources  of  Quintus.  The  first  was  by  Kehmptzow  De  Quinti  Smyrnaei 
fontibus  ac  mythopoeia  (Kiel,  189 1).  The  second,  a  review  of  the  first, 
but  embodying  the  results  of  independent  studies,  was  by  Noack  and 
appeared  in  the  Gottingische  gelehrte  Anzeigen,  Vol.  II  (1892),  pp.  769- 
812. 

Heyne  and  Tychsen  had  believed  that  Quintus  wrote  with  the  works 
of  the  Cyclic  poets  before  him.  Struve,  while  not  denying  this,  was 
the  first  to  call  attention  to  Ouintus's  large  borrowings  from  Homer.1 
Koechly,  following  Struve's  lead,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Post- 
homerica  consists  almost  altogether  of  Homeric  matter  —  "Secutus  est 
Horaerum.'"  Kehmptzow,  rejecting  all  these  views,  thought  that 
Quintus  relied  largely  on  some  mythological  handbook,  at  the  same 
time  taking  matter  from  Homer,  Hesiod,  the  tragedians,  the  Alexan- 
drines, and  even  from  Virgil.  Noack  combats  Kehmptzow's  views, 
and  believes  trivial  his  arguments  to  prove  that  Quintus  used  a 
handbook  and  did  not  draw  largely  from  Homer.  By  numerous 
parallels  he  shows  how  closely  Quintus  has  followed  Homer,  and  in 
some  instances  other  authors,  especially  Lycophron  among  the  Alexan- 
drians. He  adopts  and  expands  the  view  that  Quintus  borrowed  from 
Virgil,  and  makes  it  probable  that  he  also  used  Ovid. 

The  view  of  Noack  is  in  the  main  undoubtedly  correct.  As  far  as 
concerns  Ouintus's  borrowings  from  Homer,  the  reader  will  find  suffi- 
cient confirmation  in  my  chapter,  "The  Style  of  Quintus  as  Related 
to  Homer,"  which  was  practically  complete  before  I  had  read  Noack's 
review.  There  are  a  few  points,  however,  in  which  I  do  not  follow 
either  Kehmptzow  or  Noack,  and  to  these  I  now  turn. 

II.       THE    CYCLICS. 

Both  Kehmptzow  and  Noack  treat  it  as  settled  that  Quintus  had  not 
read  the  Cyclics,  but  their  arguments  are  not  conclusive.  It  is  not  enough 
to  say,  as  do  Koechly,  pp.  viii  ff.,  and  Kehmptzow  (p.  1),  that  Quintus 

'J.  T.  Struve,  De  argumento  carmin,  epic.  (Petr.,  1846).  A  digest  of  the  part  relating  to 
Quintus  is  found  in  Koechly,  Prolegomena,  pp.  xi  ff. 

2  Op.  eit.,  p.  xxvi. 

68 


SOURCES  69 

lias  not  read  the  Cyclics  because  in  such  and  such  instances  he  does  not 

agree  with  them.     The  Cyclics  often  differed  among   themselves,  and 

in  these  instances  it  was  clearly  impossible   for  Quintus  to  agree  with 

them  all.     Quintus  chose  his  own  account,  in  general,  as  I  shall  try  to 

make  plain  below,  agreeing  with   the  Cyclics,  but  only  because  such 

was  his  choice.     He  was  an  eclectic  poet,  taking  this  or  that  account, 

and  nearly  always  one  in  harmony  with  Homeric  life  and  customs,  as 

the  Cyclics  often  were  not.     Nor  is   the  argument  of  Noack  more  to 

the  point.     He  admits  that  there  is  no  proof  of  the  loss  of  the  Cyclics 

at  the  time  of  Quintus,  but  thinks  that  Quintus  had  never  seen  them 

(p.  770): 

Dafur  spricht  vor  allem  schon  die  blosse  Existenz  einer  solchen  spaten 
Dichtung.  Ilias  und  Odyssee  waren  da ;  er  dichtet  seine  Posthomerika 
dazu  —  weil  es  kein  andres  Epos  iiber  diese  Sagen  mehr  gab.  Und  ausser- 
dem  spricht  dafur  die  Analyse  des  von  ihm  verwendeten  Sagensmaterials.die 
uns  auf  ganz  andre  Quellen  fiihrt. 

As  for  the  first  point,  the  existence  of  our  poem  proves,  not  that 
the  Cyclics  were  not  extant  in  Quintus's  day,  but  that  he  thought  there 
was  room  for  another  poem  on  the  same  subjects.  Most  likely  they 
were  no  longer  in  general  circulation;  they  were  certainly  too  bulky; 
they  did  not  agree  among  themselves ;  they  were  in  many  instances 
untrue  to  Homeric  life  and  manners.  Digests  and  compends  of  them 
were  called  for,  as  is  proved  by  the  production  of  such  prose  versions 
as  that  of  Proclus.  These  are  sufficient  reasons  to  have  induced  an 
aspiring  poet  to  write  a  poem  like  the  Posthomerica,  even  though  the 
Cyclics  were  still  to  be  found. 

As  to  the  second  point,  something  has  already  been  said  above 
(p.  65).  Quintus  was  a  sifter  of  his  material,  and  not  under  the 
necessity  of  following  in  detail  all  he  read.  Again,  as  I  hope  to  show, 
Quintus  does  in  general  follow  the  Cyclics. 

The  only  question  is:  Were  the  Cyclics  extant  in  Quintus's  day? 
If  so,  he  read  them.  If  not,  he  must  have  known  their  general  con- 
tent from  epitomes.  Everything  goes  to  show  that  Kehmptzow  and 
Noack  are  right  in  believing  that  Quintus  was  a  very  learned  and  wide- 
read  man.1  If  we  are  to  believe  Noack,  he  had  read  not  only  Greek 
poets  from  Homer  to  the  Alexandrians,  but  also  the  Latin  poets.  He 
knew  what  they  all  had  to  say  about  the  heroes  and  incidents  of  the 
Trojan  war.  We  may  be  certain  then  that,  if  there  was  a  copy  of  any 
of  the  Cyclics,  or  of  all  of  them,  anywhere  available,  Quintus  read  it. 
The  question  then  is  :  Were  the  Cyclics  extant  in  Quintus's  day? 

»  Noack,  op.  cit.,  p.  771. 


70  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

A  scholar  of  the  greatest  authority,  Wilamowitz-Moellendorf,  says  x 
that  they  had  long  since  perished  and  were  known  to  the  world  only 
in  epitomes  of  epitomes,  such  as  that  of  Proclus.  He  proves  well 
enough  that  they  were  not  generally  read,  and  that  their  contents  were 
known  to  the  many  only  through  excerpts,  epitomes,  etc.  But  he  does 
not  prove  that  there  were  not  still  copies  in  the  great  libraries,  such  as 
those  of  Pergamum,  Smyrna,  and  Alexandria,  where  the  interested 
antiquarian  might  consult  them.  It  seems  to  me  even  very  probable 
that  these  libraries  contained  such  copies.  Taking  it  for  granted  that 
they  once  possessed  them,  are  we  to  suppose  that  they  had  lost  them  ? 
By  what  means  ?  On  what  account  ?  Besides,  we  should  expect 
libraries  such  as  those  of  Pergamum  and  Smyrna  from  purely  local 
interest  and  pride  to  be  especially  rich  in  Homerica  and  literature  on 
the  Trojan  war.  The  Homereion  shows  that  Smyrna  cherished  things 
Homeric.  So  it  seems  very  probable  —  in  lack  of  proof  to  the  con- 
trary almost  certain  —  that  the  library  of  Smyrna  once  possessed,  and 
continued  to  possess  in  Quintus's  day,  all  the  poems  of  the  Trojan 
Cycle.  Athanseus  may,  as  Wilamowitz  claims,  have  borrowed  his  anti- 
quarian lore  from  some  author  of  an  earlier  date,  and  never  have  seen 
the  Cyclics;  just  as  many  a  one  who  never  saw  the  complete  poem 
quotes  "Piers  Ploughman;"  but  this  by  no  means  proves  that  the 
Cyclics  had  entirely  been  lost.  But  when  Wilamowitz  goes  on  to 
impeach  the  truthfulness  of  Pausanias,2  I  agree  with  Mr.  Andrew 
Lang3  in  refusing  to  follow  him  farther.  As  Mr.  Lang  points  out,  we 
really  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  truthfulness  of  Pausanias : 

When  he  has  not  read  a  poet  like  Hegesinus,  whose  work  was  lost,  he 
says  so  frankly  (IX.  29)  :  "it  was  lost  before  I  was  born."  If,  then,  the 
Cyclics  were  lost  before  Pausanias  was  born,  it  is  not  likely  that  he  would 
pretend  to  have  read  them. 

This  he  does  in  several  cases:  10.  28,  31,  2;  "IV  2  und  sonst  werden 
epischecitate  miteinem  unzweideutigen  £ywc7reAe^a/x.^veingefuhrt."4  It 
was  perfectly  in  accord  with  the  character  of  an  antiquarian  like  Pausanias 
to  insist  on  having  old  manuscripts  unrolled  before  him  in  all  the 
libraries  he  visited,  reading  what  he  desired,  and  to  take  convenient 
notes  for  reference.  It  might  have  been  expected  of  him,  even  though 
he  was  a  Roman,  rather  than  of  Plutarch  and  Porphyrius.  It  need 
cause  no  trouble  that  in  this  sense  he  stands  alone  among  all  writers 

1  Homerische  Untersuchungen,  Vol.  II,  4,  "Der  epische  Cyclus." 

2  Homerische  Untersuchungen,  pp.  338  ff. 

3  Homer  and  the  Epic,  p.  345.  4  Wilamowitz,  loc.  cit. 


SOURCES  71 

of  the  Christian  era.  Wilamowitz  says  that  he  "either  wrote  the 
most  learned  archaeological  treatise  of  ancient  times,  or  makes  a 
swindling  claim  to  knowledge  not  his  own."1  The  first  of  these  propo- 
sitions is  generally  believed.  We  are  not  to  conclude  that  Pausanias 
had  read  in  its  entirety  every  work  he  cites ;  doubtless  he  consulted 
many  with  reference  only  to  points  on  which  he  was  already  interested. 
It  may  be  shown  that  he  used  handbooks,  but  are  we  on  that  account 
to  impeach  his  honesty?  He  claims  to  have  read  or  consulted  the 
Cyclics,  and  his  claim  does  not  seem  to  be  disproved  by  the  facts 
adduced  by  Wilamowitz. 

There  are  also  other  authors  of  this  period  who  claim  acquaintance 
with  one  or  more  of  the  Cyclics.  We  find  references  to  them  in 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  Eusebius,  and  in  numerous  scholia.  Further, 
Philostratus,  writer  of  the  Heroicus,  speaks  of  the  second  Psychostasia 
as  a  work  with  which  he  was  familiar.  He  leaves  us  to  assume  that  he 
had  read  it,  mentions  in  some  detail  its  content,  and  raises  the  question 
of  its  Homeric  authorship.2  Of  course,  it  is  possible  that  Philostratus 
got  his  knowledge  as  Wilamowitz  claims  Pausanias  got  his ;  yet  there 
are  some  considerations  against  such  a  view.  First,  Philostratus  in 
this  treatise  makes  hardly  any  other  direct  reference  to  the  Cyclics, 
though  he  often  speaks  of  "  the  poets  "  who  wrote  of  Trojan  affairs. 
In  the  second  place,  his  tone  here  is  that  of  a  man  speaking  of  a  well- 
known  work  —  one  still  extant. 

Let  us  add  here  another  piece  of  evidence,  offered  by  Christ,3  who, 
with  his  usual  well-balanced  judgment,  believes  that  "  das  Epos  des 
Quintus  sollte  die  damals  veralteten  Werke  des  epischen  Kyklos 
ersetzen."  He  shows  that  borrowing  from  the  original  Cyclics  is  sug- 
gested by  a  comparison  of  Quintus,  2.  404,  with  Pindar,  Nem.  VI,  150. 
In  both  passages  Achilles  is  spoken  of  as  having  left  his  chariot  and 
as  fighting  on  foot  with  Memnon.  Pindar,  at  least,  drew  from  the 
Aethiopis;  Christ4  believes  that  Quintus  has  done  the  same. 

Again,  it  seems  probable,  as  I  indicated  in  my  note  on  Quintus's 
vocabulary,5  that  many  of  his  compounds  are  borrowed  from  the 
Cyclics. 

To  sum  up  :  It  may  be  admitted  that  in  Quintus's  day  the  Cyclics 
were  not  in   general   circulation,  and  were   not   much  read ;    but  the 

1  Lang's  translation. 

2  PHILOSTRATUS,  Heroicos,  738  :  J  Je  tu  'Oju.rjp&i  iv  Sevrepa  <tvxo<TTa<ria  eipijTai,  ei  firj  'Op.»jpoi< 
eKilva,  (is  anoOavovTa  'A^iAAea  Moua'ai  fnev  <vSai<;  i9p-qvrjoa.v,  NripjiiSes  &e  ir\r)yai<;  r£>v  arepvuiv,  etc. 

3  Geschichte  der  Griechischen  Litteratur  (ed.  3),  pp.  784-85. 

4  See  note  to  Christ's  editon  of  Pindar,  loe.  cit.  5  See  above,  p.  27. 


72  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

probabilities  are  that  copies  could  be  found  in  the  libraries.  If  so, 
Quintus,  who  was  so  diligent  in  reading  up  his  subject  in  every  avail- 
able place,  certainly  read  them  as  the  fountain  source  of  all  his  matter. 

So  far  is  Quintus  from  disregarding  the  Cyclics,  as  Koechly, 
Kehmptzow,  and  Noack  would  have  us  believe,  that  in  incident  and 
order  he  really  follows  their  steps  very  closely.  In  the  rare  instances 
in  which  he  shows  variation  from  them  he  has  good  reason,  and  does 
credit  to  his  skill  as  an  artist.  The  burial  of  Antilochus,  according  to 
Proclus,  took  place  after  the  death  of  Achilles.  Quintus  with  finer 
dramatic  sense  changes  the  order  of  these  events,  thus  leaving  the 
stage  free  for  the  funeral  obsequies  of  the  principal  actor.  Again, 
Quintus  departs  from  the  order  of  the  Cycle  in  bringing  Neoptolemus 
to  Troy  before  Philoctetes.  How  much  this  was  worth  to  Quintus 
from  an  artistic  standpoint  the  reader  may  see  from  my  summary  of 
Quintus's  style.  It  is  idle  to  claim  that  Quintus  did  not  know  the 
traditional  order,  or  that  he  followed  a  handbook.  The  handbooks,  so 
far  as  we  can  learn,  followed  the  order  of  the  Cycle.  It  was  with 
Quintus  a  matter,  not  of  ignorance,  but  of  design. 

In  the  following  respects  Quintus  differs  from  Proclus  :  The 
Aethiopis  says  that  Penthesileia  was  a  Thracian  by  race ;  Quintus  says 
that  she  came  from  the  Thermodon.  In  the  Aethiopis  Achilles,  after 
slaying  Thersites,  sailed  to  Lesbos,  and  was  purified  of  manslaying  by 
Odysseus  after  sacrifice  to  Apollo,  Artemis,  and  Leto;  Quintus  says 
nothing  of  this,  nor  yet  of  Thetis's  prophecy  to  Achilles  about  the  fate 
of  Memnon,  which  was  in  the  Aethiopis.  In  Quintus,  Achilles  before 
his  death  does  not  follow  the  Trojans  into  Troy;  and  he  is  slain  by 
Apollo  alone,  not  by  Apollo  and  Paris;  in  this  latter  point  he  differs, 
not  only  from  the  Aethiopis,  but  also  from  Homer.  Again,  in  Quintus, 
Thetis  does  not,  as  in  the  Aethiopis,  take  the  body  of  Achilles  from  the 
pyre  and  carry  it  to  the  isle  of  Leuce. 

Quintus  differs  from  the  Little  Iliad  in  the  following  points:  He 
has  Philoctetes  brought  from  Lemnos  on  the  advice  of  Calchas,  not  of 
the  captured  Helenus.  Philoctetes  is  healed,  not  by  Machaon,  who  is 
already  dead  in  Quintus,  but  by  Podaleirius.  The  dead  body  of  Paris 
is  burned  in  the  mountains,  and  is  not  maltreated  by  Menelaus. 
Quintus  says  nothing  of  Odysseus's  being  recognized  by  Helen  on  his 
entering  Troy  to  steal  the  Palladium.  Further,  Quintus  says  nothing 
of  the  golden  vine,  mentioned  by  Pausanias  (X  25.  5),  given  by  Zeus 
to  Laomedon  and  used  by  Priam  to  bribe  Eurypylus ;  he  does  not  say 
who  slew  Astyanax,  and  follows  Virgil  in  representing  Priam's  death, 
not  at  the  door  of  the  palace,  but  at  the  altar. 


sources  73 

In  his  account  of  Laocoon,  Quintus  follows,  not  the  Iliupersis, 
but  Virgil ;  the  same  is  true  with  reference  to  the  departure  of  yEneas 
from  Troy.  The  Iliupersis  also  told  that  Ajax  in  dragging  away 
Cassandra  overthrew  the  statue  of  Athene ;  the  Greeks  wished  to  stone 
him,  but  he  took  sanctuary  at  Athene's  altar.  Quintus  omits  this. 
The  Iliupersis  fixes  the  slaying  of  Astyanax  on  Odysseus.  Only  one 
or  two  of  the  events  of  the  Nostoi  are  treated  by  Quintus.  The  wreck 
of  Ajax  is  described  at  length.  Achilles's  ghost  appears,  not,  as  in 
the  Nostoi,  to  Agamemnon,  but  to  Neoptolemus. 

The  above  are  about  all  the  instances  in  which  Quintus  fails  to 
follow  the  Cyclics.  He  rarely  incorporates  some  matter,  such  as 
the  tale  of  OZnone,  from  other  sources.  In  comparison  with  the 
great  number  of  points  of  agreement,  his  differences  from  the  Cycle 
are  inconsiderable.  It  will  be  observed  that  many  of  the  points  not 
used  by  Quintus  are,  in  Mr.  Lang's  phrase,  "clearly  un-Homeric."  Con- 
siderations of  length  perhaps  caused  other  omissions.  Quintus,  in  his 
zeal  for  Homeric  purity  of  manners  and  life,  selected  what  matter  he 
wished.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  either  from  the  poems  them- 
selves, or  from  epitomes  he  knew  in  detail  the  incidents  and  order  of 
the  Cycle. 

III.       THE    TRAGEDIANS. 

That  Quintus  owed  anything  to  the  tragedians  was  denied  by 
Tychsen1  and  by  Koechly,2  but  was  affirmed  by  Kehmptzow3  and 
Noack.4 

^Eschylus,  Fragment  28,  according  to  Kehmptzow,  is  the  source 
of  Quintus,  3.  98  ff.  Noack  rightly  saw5  that  Quintus  in  this  passage 
was  following  fi  56  ff.  In  both  the  Iliad  and  in  Quintus  Hera  is  the 
speaker,  chiding  Apollo  for  proving  a  traitor  to  his  singing  and  playing 
the  harp  at  the  marriage  of  Peleus  and  Thetis.  That  Quintus  was 
following  only  the  Iliad  here  is  rendered  almost  certain  from  the 
fact  that  in  Hera's  speech  he  incorporates  the  substance  of  another 
speech  found  in  <£  436  ff. 

The  above  is  only  a  point  in  a  larger  question  :  Did  Quintus  use 
the  tragedies  of  ^Eschylus  relating  to  Achilles  ?  We  learn  from  the 
scholium  to  O  70,  that  ^Eschylus  in  the  Psychostasia  represents  Zeus 
as  weighing  the  souls  of  Memnon  and  Achilles.  Plutarch6  says 
that    in     the    Psychostasia   ^Eschylus    places    Thetis    and    Aurora    on 

1  Commentatio,  III,  §§  2,  3.  4  Gottingische  gelehrte  Anzeigen,  Vol.  II  (1892),  p.  805. 

a  Prolegomena,  pp.  XXIV  f.  5  Ibid.,  p.  806. 

3  Op.  cit.,  pp.  12  ff.  *  De  Audien,  Poet.,  c.  2,  p.  17,  A. 


74  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

either  side  of  Zeus,  each  making  entreaties  for  her  own  son.  Quintus, 
(2.  490  ff.)  seems  to  have  precisely  this  situation  in  mind.  It  would 
seem  that  he  had  read  the  Psychostasia,  or  some  account  that  practically 
agreed  with  it.1 

Baumstarck  in  a  long  article2  seeks  to  show  a  much  larger  depend- 
ence of  Quintus  on  yEschylus.  He  endeavors  to  prove  from  Quintus's 
lack  of  agreement  with  the  Cyclics  in  the  matter  common  to  him  and 
yEschylus,  that  he  did  not  use  them  —  a  method  the  danger  of  which 
has  been  indicated  above.  He  shows  at  some  length  Quintus's  bor- 
rowings from  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey,  and  from  the  Alexandrians, 
and  that  in  some  things  he  used  a  handbook.  "Was  iibrig  ist  darf  als 
Nachklang  der  Aischyleischen  Tragodie  betrachtet  werden."  These, 
according  to  Baumstarck,  are:  (1)  The  wounding  of  Paris  by  Apollo 
alone.  That  this  was  the  version  of  y£schylus  is  rendered  certain  by 
the  lament  of  Thetis,  Fragment  18.  (2)  The  lamentations  of  Ajax, 
Phoenix,  Agamemnon,  and  Briseis,  which  are  well  adapted  to  a 
dramatic  setting.  (3)  Before  all,  the  fioyepal  A^iViSes,  which  were 
unknown  to  the  Odyssey,  to  Proclus's  abstract  of  the  ALthiopis,  and  to 
the  passage  in  Pindar,  Isth.,  VIII,  125  ft.  (4)  The  content  of  Thetis's 
lamentation,  3.  608-30.  (5)  The  entrance  of  Poseidon  and  his  promise. 
This,  as  is  shown  by  14.  224,  must  be  referred  to  some  peculiar  source, 
for  in  the  latter  passage  Quintus,  disregarding  the  promise  of  Poseidon 
places  the  soul  of  Achilles,  not  in  Leuce,  but  in  the  Elysian  Fields; 
and,  again,  no  extant  tradition  brings  Poseidon  into  connection  with 
the  removal  of  Achilles  to  Leuce. 

Thus  Baumstarck  makes  Quintus  borrow  largely  from  ^Eschylus,  or 
rather  from  the  ^Eschylus  that  he  proceeds  to  construct  on  this  assump- 
tion. But  that  he  is  right  in  so  doing  is  very  doubtful.  As  to  the  first 
point,  Thetis's  reference  to  Apollo,  Fragment  18,  is  by  no  means  con- 
clusive that  -^Eschylus  taught  that  Apollo  in  killing  Achilles  was  not 
aided  by  Paris.  Autos  iarnv  6  xravtov  need  mean  only  that  Apollo  had  the 
principal  part  in  the  transaction.  So,  e.  g.,  in  2  454  ff.  Thetis 
says  that  Apollo  killed  Patroclus.  The  lament  of  the  various  per- 
sonages at  the  death  of  Achilles  have  sufficient  Homeric  precedent. 
There  is  no  proof  that  the  (xoyepal  Ay/mSes  were  a  creation  of  ^Eschylus. 
It  is  certainly  unsafe  to  say  that,  because  they  are  not  mentioned  in 
Proclus,  they  were  not  in  the  sEthiopis.  Proclus  gave  only  an  epitome. 
If  Quintus  used  abstracts,  his  might   have  been   more   complete  than 

1  Koechly  tells  us  that  Hermann  {Opuscula,  VII,  pp.  352-54)  claims  that  Quintus  followed 
./Eschylus. 

*  "Die  zweite  Achilleustrilogie  des  Aischylos,"  Philologus,  Vol.  LV,  pp.  277  ft. 


sources  75 

that  of  Proclus;  or  it  is  possible  that  he  used  the  ALthiopis  itself. 
This  seems  as  probable  as  that  he  used  y-Eschylus,  if,  as  Baumstarck 
thinks,  Quintus  must  have  had  some  other  source  than  a  handbook  for 
a  picture  as  true  to  life  as  that  in  Book  III.  The  content  of  Thetis's 
lament  will  trouble  no  reader  of  2.  Again,  the  story  that  Poseidon 
had  provided  the  island  Leuce  for  Achilles  was  known  to  Philo- 
stratus;1  the  story  was  variously  told.  It  is  hardly  probable  that 
a  new  version  was  due  to  ^Eschylus;  if  so,  it  had  become  a  part  of  the 
general  body  of  myth  before  Quintus's  day.  Leuce  was  regarded  as 
one  of  the  Happy  Islands  —  a  part  of  the  Elysian  Fields.  So  they  are 
identified  by  Quintus.2 

It  remains  then  unproved  that  Quintus  drew  from  these  tragedies  of 
y£schylus — though  it  is  probable  that  he  read  them  if  extant. 

Euripides  was  more  freely  used  by  Quintus  than  any  of  the  other 
tragedians.  Kehmptzow,  not  always  consistent  with  himself,  claims 
that  Quintus's  borrowings  from  this  poet  pertain  only  to  the  orna- 
mentations of  his  poem,  not  to  the  form  of  story.  Noack  (p.  805) 
rightly  shows  that  this  view  is  absurd.  Nothing  is  more  improbable 
than  that  an  author  should  disregard  the  plot  of  a  story  the  orna- 
mentation of  which  he  is  borrowing.  We  will  speak  of  this  more  in 
detail  below. 

From  the  Hecuba  Quintus  borrows  his  account  of  the  death  of 
Polyxena  (14.  213  ff.).3  This  is  rendered  almost  certain  by  the  same 
order  in  the  events  as  by  similarities  of  language.  The  content  of 
Hecabe's  dream  in  Quintus  (14.  289)  is  somewhat  different  from  that 
in  the  Hecuba  (72  ff.).  Yet,  as  Noack  remarks,  we  are  more  ready  to 
believe  that  Quintus  changed  Euripides's  story  to  suit  his  purpose  than 
that  he  got  his  account  from  Kehmptzow's  handbook. 

In  some  passages  also  Quintus  has  followed  the  Troades.  I  do  not 
believe,  however,  that  this  is  true  in  8.  427  ff.,  where  Ganymedes  is 
represented  as  imploring  Zeus  to  put  off  the  destruction  of  Troy. 
There  is  no  similarity  of  language  between  this  passage  and  that  in 
the  Troades,  820  ff.  and  833  ff.,  where  the  same  event  is  mentioned; 
nor  is  it  to  the  point  to  state  that  both  passages  are  free  from  the  erotic 
element,  especially  since  Kehmptzow,  who  defends  this  view,  has  already 
stated  that  there  are  other  versions  of  the  Ganymedes  story  which 
neglect  the  erotic  element.  All  will  admit,  however,  that  the  story  of 
the  death  of  Astyanax  (13.  251)  shows  dependence    on  Troades  108, 

iPhilostratus,  Her.,  327,  Vol.  II,  p.  212,  ed.  Kayser:  ixcreuei  rov  Hoaei&wva.  i)  ©ens  avaSovvai 
Two.  in  tj)s  flaAaT-njs  vrfirov.     See  also  Dion.  Perieg.,  11.  54  ff. 

1  See  above,  section  on  Religious  Ideas,  etc.  3  For  details  see  Noack,  loc.  cit.,  p.  805. 


j6  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

570,  725,  782  ff.  Here  also  there  is  no  need  of  a  mythological  hand- 
book. Other  parallels  cited  by  Kehmptzow  and  Noack  are  Cassandra's 
lament  (14.  397  ff.,  Troad.  416  ff.),  and  14.  159  ff.,  which  suggests 
Troad.  955  f.,  1012  f. 

The  Andromache  vs.  629  and  scholium,  may  stand  as  the  source  of 
Quintus's  statement  (13.  389  f.)  that  Aphrodite  caused  Menelaus's 
sword  to  fall  as  he  rushed  on  Helen  (Noack).  Perhaps  also,  as  Noack 
claims,  the  Phcenissce  (1104  f.)  rather  than  the  Seven  against  Thebes  is 
the  source  of  Quintus's  account  of  the  manning  of  the  various  gates  by 
Trojan  heroes  (Book  XI).  Besides  these,  many  minor  parallels  of 
commonplaces  are  mentioned  by  Kehmptzow. 

Noack  claims  that  Kehmptzow  is  wrong  in  making  Euripides  the 
source  of  Quintus  in  the  episode  of  Philoctetes,  and  with  some  reason. 
There  are  some  discrepancies  between  the  story  as  told  by  the  two 
poets;  in  Quintus,  Diomedes  accompanies  Odysseus,  and  Philoctetes 
is  won  by  promises ;  but  perhaps  the  former,  and  certainly  the  latter, 
was  not  peculiar  to  Euripides.  Then  again  it  is  doubtful  whether  in 
Quintus's  day  the  drama  of  Euripides  was  extant,  while  the  Philoctetes 
of  Sophocles  was  read  in  the  schools.  With  this  Quintus  often  agrees. 
Noack  also  offers  many  interesting  parallels  to  show  that  in  his  account 
of  the  death  of  Ajax  in  Book  V  Quintus  was  following  the  Ajax  of 
Sophocles. 

THE    ALEXANDRIANS. 

The  Alexandrian  poets  differ  from  Homer  in  two  marked  respects : 
they  contain  romantic  and  erotic  elements,  and  are  given  to  displaying 
their  erudition  in  learned  details.  Against  these  Quintus,  as  an  imita- 
tor of  Homer,  has  been  on  his  guard;  he  lapses  into  romanticism  only 
in  a  few  instances,  and  has  seemingly  checked  an  innate  love  for 
parading  his  knowledge.  In  this  latter  point,  as  I  shall  show  below, 
he  has  not  always  been  successful.  It  is,  however,  much  to  his  credit 
that,  while  following  the  Alexandrians  in  many  things,  he  has  so  rarely 
violated  Homeric  convention.  A  careful,  and  in  most  instances  accu- 
rate, study  of  the  relation  of  Quintus  to  the  Alexandrians  has  been 
made,  both  by  Kehmptzow  and  Noack,  and  I  am  content  to  give  a 
summary  of  their  views. 

Apollonius  Rhodius,  according  to  Kehmptzow,  is  followed  by 
Quintus  in  many  places:  (1)  the  description  of  the  flight  of  OZnone  — 
10.  440,  after  Ap.  Rh.  4.  41  ff.;  (2)  the  farewell  of  Neoptolemus  to 
Deidameia — 7.  262  ff.,  Ap.  Rh.  1.  278  ff.;  (3)  the  story  of  the 
Lemnian    women  —  9.    337    ff.,    Ap.    Rh.    1  ;    the  boxing   match  — 


sources  77 

4-  333  ff-»  Ap.  Rh.  2.  25  ff.  Minor  parallels  are  5.  262,  Ap.  Rh. 
3.  188;    10.  193,   194,  Ap.  Rh.  4.   595;  3.   630  ff.,   Ap.  Rh.   1.   26  ff. 

Noack,  while  admitting  that  it  is  clear  that  Quintus  has  borrowed 
from  the  Argonautica,  has  done  valuable  service  (pp.  791  ff.)  by  showing 
how  much  our  author  owes  to  Lycophron.  It  was  from  him  and  his 
scholiasts  that  he  probably  got  the  myth  of  CEnone.1  Noack  shows 
also  many  other  interesting  parallels  between  Quintus  and  Lycophron. 
They  both  mention  the  Calydnae  islands  —  12.  452,  L.  346,  347; 
the  Palladium — 10.  360,  L.  363;  Perseus- —  10.  195,  L.  840  ff.; 
Athene's  turning  her  eyes  to  the  roof  to  avoid  seeing  the  sin  of  Ajax 
— 13.425,  L.  361,  362;  Laodice's  flight  and  swallowing  up  of  the 
earth — 13.  544  ff.,  L.  316  ff.;  Calchas's  restraint  of  the  Greeks  from 
attacks  on  JEnes.% — 13.  334  ff.,  L.  1273,  1263;  the  death  only  of 
Laocoon's  two  sons — 12.  461  ff.,  schol.  L.  347;  and  a  few  others 
of  minor  import. 

Noack  is  perhaps  right  in  believing  that  Quintus  owes  nothing  to 
Callimachus,  as  he  certainly  is  in  claiming  that  no  Alexandrine  source 
is  necessary  to  account  for  the  introduction  of  Helenus — 10.  342-60. 
Kehmptzow  and  Rohde  are  wrong  in  believing  that  these  lines  were 
inadvertently  left  here.  They  are  probably  only  a  summary  of  events 
which  Quintus  thought  unwise  to  incorporate  at  length  in  a  poem 
already  growing  too  long. 

In  the  story  of  the  love  of  Achilles,  1.  659  ff.,  Kehmptzow  fol- 
lows Rohde2  in  believing  that  Quintus  and  Propertius  (IV,  11.  13  f.), 
who  agrees  with  Quintus,  borrow  from  some  Alexandrine  source,  per- 
haps Euphorion.  Noack  would  deny  this,  and  make  the  borrowing 
direct  from  the  Latin  poet.  Certainly  Kehmptzow  and  Rohde,  whom 
he  follows,  are  wrong  in  making  the  laments  of  Briseis  at  the  death 
of  Achilles  Alexandrine.  As  I  have  elsewhere  shown,  they  are  only 
imitations  of  similar  laments  in  the  Iliad. 

The  general  influence  of  the  Alexandrians  is  seen,  as  we  have 
already  said,  in  Quintus's  fondness  for  erudite  details.  This  is  espe- 
cially marked  in  two  spheres  —  medicine  and  astronomy.  As  regards 
the  first,  we  find  in  1.  76  ff.,  a  simile  relative  to  the  surgical  treatment 
of  the  eyes;  in  4.  202  ff.,  the  details  of  the  pathology  and  treatment 
of  a  sprained  foot ;  in  5.  322  ff.,  the  pathology  of  Ajax's  becoming  mad  ; 

«  Kehmptzow's  reasoning  to  show  that  Rohde,  Der  Griechische  Roman,  p.  no,  n.  5,  is  wrong  in 
claiming  an  Alexandrine  original  for  Quintus  is  faulty.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  Quintus  used 
more  than  one  source,  and  even  though  it  may  be  proved  that  he  follows  the  Argonautica,  he  may 
have  modified  his  story  by  borrowings  from  other  sources. 

?Op.  cit.,  p.  103,  n.  2. 


78  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

in  g.  428  ff.,  the  treatment  of  an  old  wound;  in  10.  277  ff.,  a  simile 
describing  the  pathology  of  fever.  In  regard  to  astronomy,  in  2.  500  ff., 
and  595  ff.,  we  find  a  description  of  the  ecliptic  and  the  signs  of 
the  zodiac,  while  in  7.  300  ff.,  some  of  these  signs  are  mentioned  by 
name,  and  their  effect  on  the  weather  is  discussed.  Many  other  con- 
stellations are  discussed:  'EXiktjs  7repti;yeos,  2.  105;  dvTrjpiov,  4.  554 
(Aratus);  Capricorn,  7.  300;  the  Pleiades,  7.  308,  13.  554.  These  are 
only  the  more  important  passages. 

THE    LATIN    POETS. 
VIRGIL. 

In  Quintus  we  have  an  instance  of  a  Greek  poet  who  has  borrowed 
from  at  least  one  Latin  poet — Virgil ;  perhaps  from  several  others  also 
—  Ovid  and  Seneca  among  the  number.  Conclusive  proof  can  be  fur- 
nished only  in  the  case  of  Virgil.  This  comes  as  a  result  of  a  study  of 
Robert,  Die  Laokoonsage*  in  which  it  is  shown  that  in  his  Laocoon 
story  Virgil  differs  from  all  previous  accounts  —  the  Cyclics,  Sophocles, 
etc. —  in  points  that  are  essential.  The  argument  has  been  repeated 
both  by  Kehmptzow  and  Noack.  Quintus  agrees  with  Virgil  — hence 
Quintus  followed  Virgil ;  and  followed  not  only  in  detail,  but  in 
imagery  and  turns  of  expression,  so  that  a  direct  acquaintance  with 
the  author  is  shown.  Noack  (p.  799)  denies  that  Quintus  used  a 
Greek  version  of  Virgil.  He  offers  many  parallels  to  prove  that 
Quintus  was  well  acquainted  with  this  poet.  Besides  a  detailed  list 
of  borrowings  from  the  second  book  of  the  Alneid,  he  shows  how  in 
many  other  passages  Quintus  probably  drew  from  Virgil,  but  no  proof, 
beyond  similarity  of  incident,  is  given. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  points,  not  noted  before,  which  go  to 
confirm  —  if  confirmation  is  needed  —  the  view  of  Robert.  The  first  is 
that  in  both  Virgil  and  Quintus  it  is  Venus  who  conducts  ^Eneas  out 
of  the  city.     This  version  of  the  story  does  not  seem  to  have  been 

1  Bild  unci  Lied,  Excursus  I.  In  the  Greek  poets  —  the  Cyclics,  Stesichorus,  Sophocles  —  Laocoon 
is  a  priest  of  Apollo  who  has  committed  impiety  by  marrying  and  begetting  children  against  the  com- 
mand of  the  god.  To  atone  for  the  unsanctioned  marriage,  he  and  one  of  his  sons,  or  his  two  sons  —  the 
story  is  variously  told  —  are  slain,  while  he  is  offering  sacrifice  at  the  altar  of  Apollo,  the  offended 
deity.  This  occurs  after  the  horse  is  drawn  into  the  city.  The  purpose  originally  seems  to  have  been 
to  warn  ^Eneas,  who  immediately  leaves  the  city.  In  Virgil  all  is  different.  It  was  Virgil's  plan 
that  .(Eneas  should  remain  and  see  the  downfall  of  the  city.  So  he  was  compelled  to  give  the  Laocoon 
myth  another  purpose  —  the  same  as  that  of  the  Sinon  myth.  Laocoon  hurls  his  spear  at  the 
offering  of  Athene.  He  is  the  priest,  not  of  Apollo,  but  of  Neptune  ;  he  sacrifices,  and  with  his  two 
sons  is  slain  before  the  horse  is  drawn  into  the  city.  The  people  interpret  the  event  to  mean  that  Athene 
is  offended  at  the  impiety  offered  the  horse,  which  is  at  once  haled  into  the  city.  Quintus  follows 
Virgil. 


SOURCES  79 

known  to  any  writer  before  Virgil.1  In  the  Iliupersis  and  Sophocles 
y£neas  escapes  before  the  burning  of  the  city.  In  the  tabula  lliaca  the 
conductor  of  ^Eneas  is  not  Venus  but  Hermes.  This  account  follows 
Stesichorus.  Virgil's  version  seems  original  with  him.  If  this  be  granted, 
either  a  direct  or  an  indirect  relation  between  Virgil  and  Quintus  must 
also  be  granted.  That  the  relation  is  direct  is  rendered  very  probable 
by  several  similarities  in  the  two  authors.  Compare  fla?nmaeque  rece- 
dunt  (s£n.  2,  633)  and  Trvp  viroetKc  (13,  329),  and  the  whole  account 
of  the  departure  of  ^Eneas  (13.  317  ff.,  Aln.  2.  721  ff.).  It  is  in  this 
connection  that  Calchas,  bidding  the  Greeks  to  let  ^Eneas  depart 
unmolested,  predicts  the  future  glories  and  world-wide  rule  of  the 
yEneadae,  all  of  which  is  wholly  in  the  spirit  and  almost  in  the  lan- 
guage of  AL11.  1.  278-88. 

The  same  method  or  proof  may  be  used  to  show  that  Quintus  has 
in  two  passages  followed  Virgil  (sEn.  1.  50  ff.),  in  his  description  of 
the  cave  of  yEolus.  Conington  tells  us  that  several  lines  in  Virgil's 
description  betray  the  influence  of  Lucretius,  but  the  final  product  was 
Virgil's  own.  It  would  seem  that  the  passages  in  Quintus  which  closely 
imitate  Virgil  in  language  were  drawn  directly  from  him.  See  how 
closely  similar  are  3.  702  ff.,  and  sEn.  1.  81  ff.  In  this  instance 
the  similarity  is  all  the  more  striking  since  the  winds  are  sent,  not  to 
arouse  a  storm,  as  in  Virgil,  but  to  kindle  the  funeral  pyre  of  Achilles. 
Compare  also  14.  474  ff.  and  Aln.  1.  50  ff.  In  some  details  Quintus 
agrees  with  Homer's  account  of  ^Eolus,  but  the  important  thing  is  that 
in  several  others  he  agrees  with  Virgil.  So  Struve,  Kehmptzow,  Noack. 
These  will  be  patent  to  anyone  who  will  read  the  two  passages. 

In  his  account  of  the  death  of  Priam,  too,  it  seems  that  Quintus  had 
Virgil  in  mind.2  He  goes  farther — he  combats  him.  In  Virgil, 
Neoptolemus  is  a  brute;  in  Quintus  he  is  the  hero,  and  in  slaying 
Priam,  who  begs  for  death,  he  acts  only  as  any  youthful  warrior  might.3 
Quintus,  however,  seems  to  recognize  that  his  hero  does  not — owing 
to  Virgil  or  Euripides  —  stand  in  a  favorable  light.  Hence,  in  a  highly 
rhetorical  way  he  tries  to  gain  favor  for  him.  In  the  first  place, 
Diomedes,  praised  for  his  moderation  and  virtue  {ALn.  n.  244  ff.),  kills 
Ilioneus,  piteously  begging  for  life  (13.  181  ff.).  Then  Neoptolemus 
slays  Polites,  not  fleeing,  as  in  Virgil,  but  attacking  him,  imovTa  IloXt- 
T7/v,  and  afterward  slays  Priam,  who  yearns  for  death.     This,  in  brief, 

1  I  have  not  been  able  to  see  the  discussion  of  this  subject  in   Heinze's  Vergils  epische  Technik 

2  Noack,  op.  cit.,  p.  798. 

3  Conington,  /Eh.  2,  introduction,  did  not  see  the  significance  of  this. 


80  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

is  Quintus's  argument  to  justify  his  hero,  who  had  suffered  so  much  at 
Virgil's  hands. 

That  he  had  Virgil  and  not  Euripides  in  mind  is  suggested  by  two 
considerations.  First,  the  death  of  Polites  seems  to  have  been  a  crea- 
tion of  Virgil.  I  cannot  find  that  it  was  known  before.  It  was  not  in 
Polygnotus's  famous  picture  of  the  capture  of  Troy  {Pans.  X,  25). 
The  painter  would  hardly  have  omitted  an  incident  of  such  pathos, 
had  he  known  of  it.  There  is  no  mention  of  it  in  pre-Virgilian  litera- 
ture. With  Virgil,  however,  it  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic  incidents  of 
his  work.  Quintus  to  save  his  hero  gives  the  story  another  turn.  In 
the  second  place,  let  the  reader  compare  the  language,  especially  the 
moralizing  which  closes  the  two  accounts: 

Haec  finis  Priami  fatorum  ;  hie  exitus       y   [/ce^aX^]    5e   p.iya   (itfrvcra    KvXlvdero 
ilium  iroXkbv  iw1   alav 

Sorte  tulit,  Troiam  incensam  et  pro-       vbafi    &\\wv    neXtuv,    birbvois    iytdwrai 
lapsa  videntem  avrfp- 

Pergama,  tot  quondam  populis  terris-       kbito  5'  fip'  &  fxi\ap  al/xa   icai  els  eripwv 
que  superbum  <pbvov  dvdpuv 

regnatorem  Asiae.    Jacet  ingens  litore  [Lacuna.] 

truncus 

avulsumque  umeris  caput  et  sine  no-       dX/^fy  icai  yever/  ko.1  aireipe<rlois  reicho-cnv. 
mine  corpus. 

— &n.  2.  554  ff.  — Q.  13.  244  ff. 

Not  artist  enough  to  express  the  grand  ideas  of  Virgil,  Quintus 
has  left  the  passage  incomplete. 

Finally,  Quintus  seems  to  have  borrowed  some  of  his  similes  from 
Virgil,  as,  for  instance,  in  1.  396  ff.  the  beautiful  description  (Virgil, 
Georg.  4.  n,  12),  "errans  bucula  campo  |  decutiat  rorem,  et  surgentes 
atterat  herbas,"  is  turned  by  Quintus  into  a  simile  (1.395). 

OVID. 

Quintus  also  shows  some  striking  similarities  to  Ovid.  Koechly 
was  doubtful  whether  both  borrowed  from  a  common  source  or  Quintus 
drew  directly  from  Ovid.  Kehmptzow  leaned  toward  the  former  sup- 
position ;  Noack  argues  for  the  latter. 

The  two  most  important  parallels  are  the  episode  of  Memnon  and 
the  oirXtav  K/Dtcris  {Met.  12.  627  ff.).  The  latter  subject  was  a  stock 
theme  in  the  rhetorical  schools,  and  both  Quintus  and  Ovid  show 
rhetorical  influence  (Noack).  Now,  the  ottXwv  /cptcris1  was  found  in  a 
drama  of  ^Eschylus,  was  pictured  on  vases,  is  treated  in  Pindar,  Nem. 
8.  26,  a  version  is  given  in  the  scholium  to  A.  547,  and,  according 
to  Aristotle,  was  borrowed  by  ^schylus  directly  from  one  of  the  post- 

1 A  concise  statement  of  the  various  versions  is  found  in  Jebb,  Sophocles,  Ajax,  Introduction. 


SOURCES  8 1 

Homeric  epics.  The  later  versions  differ  from  the  old  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  begging  of  Odysseus  and  the  stealing  of  the  Palladium 
into  the  speeches,  which  we  first  find  in  the  rhetorical  versions  such  as 
those  of  Antisthenes.  On  such  a  rhetorical  version  Ovid  depends. 
He  followed  in  Met.  12.  121  a  oVAwv  KpCavs  of  his  own  teacher,  Latro. 
Ovid's  agreement  with  Antisthenes  shows  that  the  version  of  the 
rhetorical  schools  had  become  stereotyped.  Although  Quintus  has* 
made  his  oVAwv  xpto-ts  with  knowledge  of  the  version  of  the  scholium 
on  the  Odyssey  n.  547,  still  in  the  contesting  speeches  he  has  used 
some  rhetorical  source.  The  proof  that  he  followed  Ovid  is  stronger 
than  Kehmptzow  (p.  46)  puts  it.  In  more  than  seventy  verses  of 
the  one  hundred  and  seventeen  of  the  speech  of  Ajax,  and  in  all 
points  of  importance,  the  two  poets  show  close  agreement.  So  far 
Noack  (p.  802),  who  gives  the  parallels  line  for  line  from  5.180-290, 
and  Ovid,  Met.  13.  6  ff .  The  strength  of  Noack's  position  depends 
only  on  the  striking  similarity  of  the  language  of  the  two  poets.  We 
do  not  know  whether  or  not  the  stealing  of  the  Palladium  and  the 
begging  of  Odysseus  were  treated  in  the  Cyclics.  It  is  rather  unsafe 
to  build  an  argument  on  our  ignorance  of  the  matter.  In  some  minor 
details  Quintus  is  at  variance  with  Ovid.1  In  the  latter  not  captives 
but  chiefs  are  judges,  and  Ajax  kills  himself  directly  after  the  decision, 
in  both  of  which  the  account  agrees  with  that  of  Arctinus.  In  Quintus 
the  madness  of  Ajax  follows  the  decision;  he  makes  his  account  to  his 
own  liking. 

The  other  important  episode  where  the  two  poets  are  much  alike 
is  the  story  of  Memnon,  2.  549  ff.  and  Ovid  13.  576  ff.  Both  Kehmpt- 
zow (p.  45)  and  Noack  (p.  803)  have  seen  that  the  two  accounts  are 
very  similar.  The  various  details  are  united  nowhere  else  as  in  Quintus 
and  Ovid.  Only  two  hundred  verses  in  Ovid  separate  this  story  from 
the  ottAwv  Kpto-is.  Adding  to  this  the  undeniable  similarity  of  both 
accounts  in  the  two  poets,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  already  proved  in  the 
case  of  Virgil  that  Quintus  used  a  Latin  poet,  Noack  concludes  that 
Quintus  drew  directly  from  the  Metamorphoses. 

SENECA. 

Though  it  seems  to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  scholars,  Quintus  in 
his  description  of  the  shipwreck  of  the  returning  Greeks  shows  some 
similarity  to  a  like  description  in  Seneca's  Agamemnon.     The  order  of 

1  In  one  instance  Quintus  is  inconsistent  with  himself,  but  agrees  with  Ovid.  In  Q.  7.  208  ff. 
Odysseus  claims  to  have  carried  off  the  body  of  Achilles.  This  agrees  with  Ovid,  Met.  13.  284  and  273, 
but  not  with  Q.  3.  385,  where  it  is  said  that  the  kings  bore  off  the  body. 


82  A    STUDY    OF    QUINTUS    OF    SMYRNA 

events  in  the  two  poets  are  much  the  same:  (i)  The  Greeks  leave 
Troy  and  are  sailing  happily  home  with  their  booty  and  captives  — 
14.  403-1 8;  Sen.,  Ag.  421-65.  (2)  Athene  intervenes  with  Zeus, 
who  arms  her  with  his  power  and  thunderbolts — 14.419-65;  taken 
for  granted  in  Seneca,  as  known  from  Virgil.  (3)  The  winds  come 
and  the  storm  begins — 14.  470-90;  Ag.  465-82.  Here  Quintus 
tells  of  the  cave  of  Aeolus,  which  Seneca  omits.  (4)  The  storm 
is  described — 14.  490-529;  Ag.  483-527.  (5)  Athene  comes  upon 
the  scene — already  in  Seneca  armed  with  thunderbolts  —  and  with  the 
help  of  Neptune  destroys  Ajax — 14.  530-89;  Ag.  528-56.  (6) 
Nauplius  lures  the  other  Greek  ships  on  the  shoals  with  a  torch  — 
14.  590-628;  Ag.  557-78. 

Quintus  has  an  epic  completeness  hardly  fit  for  the  narrative  of  the 
messenger  in  Seneca's  tragedy;  he  tells  of  the  wrath  of  Athene — a 
proper  epic  event ;  he  also  introduces  the  story  of  ^Eolus  and  his  cave 
and  winds,  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  in  all  probability  sug- 
gested by  Virgil.  With  these  deductions,  his  account  will  be  found  to 
square  to  a  remarkable  degree  with  Seneca's.  There  are  many  paral- 
lels of  thought,  and  many  of  phrase,  some  of  which  we  give  : 


Q. 

Sen. 

Q. 

Sen. 

14.404-407 

-  Ag. 

437-439 

14.565-566 

-  Ag. 

545-551 

415 

- 

457 

568-575  - 

- 

552-555 

415-418 

- 

441-442 

589 

- 

556 

492-494  - 

- 

490-500 

593-597  - 

- 

499-506 

497-504 

- 

503-509 

598-600 

- 

489-490 

517 

- 

497-498 

620-621  - 

- 

569-570 

528-529 

- 

472-474 

625 

- 

557 

53i 

- 

537 

624,  626  - 

- 

57i 

532-534 

- 

533-538 

Compare  especially  the  closing  line  on  the  destruction  of  Ajax  in 
each  passage : 

yairi   6/xws   dfj-r/devTa  Kal   arpvy^Tip   ivl   v6vTii>. —  Q.  1 4.  589.1 
Terraque  et  igne  victus  et  pelago  jacet. —  S.,  Ag.  556. 

This  and  many  others  of  these  parallels  will  be  found  to  agree  very 
closely.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  details  wherein  the  two 
authors  differ.  Seneca  has  more  ideas.  So  there  is  no  certain  proof 
that  Quintus  borrowed  from  Seneca.  It  seems  likely,  however,  that 
he  did.  We  have  found  that  he  drew  from  other  Latin  poets.  Why 
not  from  Seneca?  Besides  the  other  points  of  agreement,  the  two 
accounts  are  both  very  rhetorical.  If  they  had  a  common  source,  that 
source  was  rhetorical. 

'This  line  seems  to  have  been  written  with  H  204  in  mind,  but  the  parallelism  to  Seneca  is  marked. 

\ 

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